to keep the pot a-boiling
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
To gp on paying one's way and making enough to live on; also, to keep things going briskly, to see that the interest does not flag.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “to keep the pot a-boiling” mean?
To gp on paying one's way and making enough to live on; also, to keep things going briskly, to see that the interest does not flag.
Is “to keep the pot a-boiling” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.