on the breadline
to have just enough money to live
TRANSLATION
on the breadline = am Existenzminimum leben --- GOOGLE INDEX on the breadline: approximately 1,300,000 Google hits
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
Britain ON THE BREADLINE: families join food queue
(The London Independent - news headline)
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Critics claim Jordanian government officials live a life of luxury while the rest of the country is ON THE BREADLINE.
(The Daily Express)
(The London Independent - news headline)
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Critics claim Jordanian government officials live a life of luxury while the rest of the country is ON THE BREADLINE.
(The Daily Express)
Did you
know?
on the breadline
idiom
- to be very poor
(Cambridge Idioms Dictionary)
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The expression "on the breadline" stems from the lines that form at places where food is served or handed out to the homeless or those who have little money. The phrase goes back to the Great Depression when many people were suddenly broke and had to depend on the charity of others to get something to eat.
Organisations in the U.S. that provided free food were also referred to as soup kitchens. Chicago gangster Al Capone, in one of his few attempts at public relations, opened a soup kitchen during the Great Depression in the 1930s.
Herbert Hoover was president of the U.S. when the Great Depression broke out. People who lost their homes often lived in what were sometimes called "Hoovervilles". These were settlements consisting of ramshackle cabins made of old wood and metal. There was also "Hoover Stew" (food dished out in soup kitchens), "Hoover Blankets" (newspapers that served as blankets) and "Hoover Wagons" (broken cars that were pulled by mules).
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SYNONYMS
on the dole, at the poverty line, at the subsistence level
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SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"There are organisations that feed and clothe people on the breadline."
idiom
- to be very poor
(Cambridge Idioms Dictionary)
---
The expression "on the breadline" stems from the lines that form at places where food is served or handed out to the homeless or those who have little money. The phrase goes back to the Great Depression when many people were suddenly broke and had to depend on the charity of others to get something to eat.
Organisations in the U.S. that provided free food were also referred to as soup kitchens. Chicago gangster Al Capone, in one of his few attempts at public relations, opened a soup kitchen during the Great Depression in the 1930s.
Herbert Hoover was president of the U.S. when the Great Depression broke out. People who lost their homes often lived in what were sometimes called "Hoovervilles". These were settlements consisting of ramshackle cabins made of old wood and metal. There was also "Hoover Stew" (food dished out in soup kitchens), "Hoover Blankets" (newspapers that served as blankets) and "Hoover Wagons" (broken cars that were pulled by mules).
---
SYNONYMS
on the dole, at the poverty line, at the subsistence level
---
SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"There are organisations that feed and clothe people on the breadline."
