hand to mouth, phr. (a., n.)
1. from hand to mouth: by consuming food as soon as it is obtained; with attention to immediate wants only; without provision for the future; improvidently, thriftlessly.
| 1509 Barclay Shyp of Folys (1874) II. 45 Theyr vayne myndes to farther thynges is dull Saue on that which from hande to mouth is brought. 1571 Golding Calvin on Ps. lxviii. 11 Hungery folkes that are fed from hand too mouth. 1660 Hickeringill Jamaica (1661) 56 No supply, But just from hand to mouth, no Granary. 1790 Cowper Let. to Newton 5 Feb., I subsist as the poor are vulgarly said to do, from hand to mouth. 1887 Jessopp Arcady Introd. 14 We in the country are one and all living from hand to mouth. |
2. attrib. or adj. (with --). Involving immediate consumption (or, transf., disposal of goods) as soon as obtained; aiming at the satisfaction of present needs only; improvident.
| 1748 Richardson Clarissa (1811) III. 181 Contented with hand-to-mouth conveniencies. 1860 W. G. Clark Vac. Tour 10 The hand-to-mouth purblind policy of your Government. 1892 W. Pike Barren Ground N. Canada 71 Very agreeable after the hand-to-mouth existence we had been leading. |
3. n. Lack of provision for the future.
| 1864 Tennyson En. Ard. 116 Low miserable lives of hand-to-mouth. |