Idiom
make ends meet
Meaning
To have enough money to cover expenses; to get by financially; to get through the pay period (sufficient to meet the next payday).
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“She works two jobs just to make ends meet.”
“After losing his job, he struggled to make ends meet on unemployment benefits alone.”
“Despite rising rents and stagnant wages, the family somehow managed to make ends meet through careful budgeting and side work.”
Examples
simple
“She works two jobs just to make ends meet.”
contextual
“After losing his job, he struggled to make ends meet on unemployment benefits alone.”
complex
“Despite rising rents and stagnant wages, the family somehow managed to make ends meet through careful budgeting and side work.”
Origin
The origin of the phrase is uncertain, though the form *make both ends meet* was the standard iteration from the 17th century until the early-to-mid 20th century. One theory suggests the expression originally referred to the ends of a rope. To make such ends meet was to ensure continuity, thereby providing a measure of security and stability for the task at hand.
A competing, perhaps later, explanation involves the attempt to make one's finances last from the start of a pay period to the conclusion of the next. In this sense, the ends are the temporal boundaries of the budget; making them meet ensures no gap in the availability of funds occurs. The French equivalent, *joindre les deux bouts*, suggests the concept of joining two ends for solvency is a shared European preoccupation.
Key words
Related idioms
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