| 词汇 | to make ends meet |
| 释义 | (redirected from to make ends meet)make (both) ends meetFig. to earn and spend equal amounts of money. (Usually in reference to a meager living with little if any money after basic expenses.) I have to work at two jobs to make ends meet. Through better budgeting, I am learning to make both ends meet. make ends meetManage so that one's financial means are enough for one's needs, as in On that salary Enid had trouble making ends meet. This expression originated as make both ends meet, a translation from the French joindre les deux bouts (by John Clarke, 1639). The ends, it is assumed, allude to the sum total of income and expenditures. However, naval surgeon and novelist Tobias Smollett had it as "make the two ends of the year meet" ( Roderick Random, 1748), thought to go back to the common practice of splicing rope ends together in order to cut shipboard expenses. make ends meetCOMMON If you find it difficult to make ends meet, you find it difficult to pay for the things you need in life, because you have very little money. Many people are struggling to make ends meet because wages are failing to keep pace with rising prices. He has trouble making ends meet because he can't find work and his government check is barely enough to cover the rent. Note: Originally, this expression was `make both ends of the year meet', which meant to spend only as much money as you received as income. make (both) ends meetearn or have enough money to live on without getting into debt. 1996 Amitav Ghosh The Calcutta Chromosome Actually I think she's having trouble making ends meet, now that she's retired. make (both) ends ˈmeetearn enough to pay your living expenses: Since I lost my job, I’m finding it harder to make ends meet.make ends meet To manage so that one's means are sufficient for one's needs. make ends meet, toTo live within one’s income. Some writers claim that the ends in question are the beginning and end of the (fiscal) year, and indeed the phrase was so stated by Tobias Smollett in 1748. Earlier examples, dating from the seventeenth century, are less specific, and the word end could equally well denote the sum total (end result or bottom line) of income and of expenditure. On the death of Herbert Hoover in 1964, someone recalled that he said, “About the time we can make the ends meet, somebody moves the ends.” |
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