hand to mouth

See also: hand-to-mouth

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

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Adjective

hand to mouth (not comparable)

1. Alternative form of hand-to-mouth

Adverb

hand to mouth (not comparable)

1. In a hand-to-mouth manner.
   • 2014, Paul Salopek, Blessed. Cursed. Claimed., National Geographic (December 2014)[1]

     Hundreds of thousands of Syrians shelter beneath UN canvas in Jordan. In the irrigated fields of As Safi, these refugees survive hand to mouth, picking tomatoes for $11 a day.

   • 2018, “Deuteronomy 24”, in Eugene H. Peterson, transl., The Message Deluxe Gift Bible‎^[2], Tyndale House Publishers, →ISBN, page 196:

     Don’t abuse a laborer who is destitute and needy, whether he is a fellow Israelite or a foreigner living in your land and in your city. Pay him at the end of each workday; he’s living from hand to mouth and needs it now. If you hold back his pay, he’ll protest to GOD and you’ll have sin on your books.

   • 2020 July 15, Mike Brown talks to Paul Clifton, “Leading London's "hidden heroes"”, in Rail, page 42:

     "Meanwhile, we are sitting here starving. Let's not beat about the bush - we are absolutely living hand to mouth now on TfL.

References

• “hand to mouth”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.