on a shoestring
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
with very limited financial resources
Literally: on a string used to tie a shoe
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The books give all the insider know - how for staying and getting around a country on a shoestring budget.
Although everything had been done on a shoestring, she was pleased with the result — and could not help feeling pleased with his praise.
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. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “on a shoestring” mean?
with very limited financial resources Literally: on a string used to tie a shoe
Is “on a shoestring” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.