poor as a church mouse
Very poor, to the point of starving or begging; utterly destitute.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“He has no money and is poor as a church mouse.”
“After the business failed, the family found themselves poor as a church mouse and had to move in with relatives.”
“Despite his noble lineage and grand family name, the young man lived in a tiny attic, as poor as a church mouse.”
The phrase is a variation of the earlier *hungry as a church mouse*, a comparison predicated on the lack of sustenance available within a house of worship. Catholic and Orthodox liturgical requirements dictate that priests must scrupulously prevent any crumb of the Eucharist—the bread understood to be the body of Christ—from falling to the altar or the floor. The thoroughness of this practice ensured that the local mice were left with no scraps upon which to feed, rendering them notably more deprived than their secular counterparts in granaries or kitchens.
The expression is likely a corruption of an even older comparison, *as quiet as a church mouse*, which dates to the 1300s. The transition from silence to starvation reflects the mouse's enduring reputation as an inhabitant of an environment where both noise and crumbs are strictly discouraged.
- 01
bit by a barn mouse
tipsy; slightly drunk
- 02
darken a church door
To go to church to attend a service.
- 03
dust mouse
A dust bunny.
- 04
have a poor time of it
Synonym of have a rough time of it (especially financially)
- 05
house poor
In financial difficulty because of the excessive cost of owning a house, or because the cost of home ownership forms too high a proportion of household income.
- 06
land poor
In a condition of poverty as a result of inability to meet tax payments or other financial requirements for one's land holdings.
- 07
on the floor
[Cockney slang]poor
- 08
poor as a rat
Synonym of poor as a church mouse.
Last updated August 10, 2026