hand to mouth
In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.
Meaning · English
Satisfying only your immediate needs because of lack of money.
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
Ministerially the king lived from hand to mouth, on occasions with a double ministry of foreign affairs.
A few years ago Glen Robins was unemployed and living from hand to mouth.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Figurative class: Metaphor (PIE-English corpus, CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31).
Common questions
What does “hand to mouth” mean?
Satisfying only your immediate needs because of lack of money.
Is “hand to mouth” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.