in the poorhouse

in the poorhouse

1. dated Literally, living in a publicly-maintained institution for those who are poor. People don't live in the poorhouse today—this isn't Dickensian England.
2. By extension, having no money. Usually used hyperbolically. With a mortgage payment that high, you guys will end up in the poorhouse!
See also: poorhouse
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

*in the poorhouse

 
1. Lit. in a (historical) communal dwelling for impoverished persons. (*Typically: live ~; end up ~.) He couldn't pay his debts and had to live in the poorhouse.
2. Fig. in a state of poverty. (*Typically: live ~; end up ~.) If I lose my job, we'll end up in the poorhouse.
See also: poorhouse
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
See also:
  • be in the poorhouse
  • poorhouse
  • end up in the poorhouse
  • literally
  • Chinaman
  • (one) must have killed a Chinaman
  • cut off from the (outside) world
  • blow smoke
  • big boned
  • (the) survival of the fittest
References in classic literature
"There ain't no difference dyin' in battle or in the poorhouse. The thing is they're deado.
Eden was surprised to find that in the poorhouse "[w]heaten bread, apparently very good, is used." The resident children appeared healthy and were "kept very clean" (Eden 172).
After the Amendment Act was in place, someone elderly and infirm who applied for parish relief, like '"Poor old John'" Abdy in Emma (383), would have to leave his family and home to live in the poorhouse or get nothing.
Similarly, Rockman's inclusion of pauper agency as the third force in the poorhouse dynamic adds an important perspective, but can only take us so far.
During her first four months in the poorhouse during fall and winter 1828, twenty-four-year-old Ruth Gurney was sent to solitary confinement twice for leaving without permission.
It's safe to assume that losing a deposit won't put you in the poorhouse. You can avoid many mishaps simply by using reputable vendors; in addition, they may already have insurance that would reimburse you for losses.
To prevent her family from ending up in the poorhouse, Dora takes over the business proving that she is more than just a housewife.
David Wagner challenges this common understanding in The Poorhouse: America's Forgotten Institution.
"That instilled in me at an early age: Don't end up in the poorhouse. But the older I get, the less I worry about it."
Although Cleveland provided better economic opportunities than most other Northern cities, there were "far more blacks near the lower than the upper end of the economic spectrum." [8] A small number ended up in the poorhouse, the Cleveland Infirmary.
This coincidence in timing, however, should not lead one to conclude that per recipient costs were lower in the poorhouse. Indeed, as shown in Table 2, per recipient costs were always significantly higher in the poorhouse, and that difference would be even greater if the costs of building and maintaining the structures were known.(6)
It is possible that some of the difference between poorhouse and outdoor direct costs can be attributed to differences in average spell lengths and/or recipient characteristics.(7) Even if direct costs for equivalent full-year paupers were no higher in the poorhouse, however, per recipient administrative costs averaged almost four and a half times those for outdoor relief.
(Family doctors aren't exactly in the poorhouse. Median income is $93,000.) Considering that most med school students find themselves $50,000 in the hole the day they graduate, it's no wonder they feel they have little choice but to move into a high-paying sub-field.
Gavrilo Alekseev syn Solokin was eighty, and took shelter in the poorhouse because of his age (za starostiiu).
Note the consistently higher proportion of the population in the poorhouse in New York than in Brooklyn, and note also how small the proportions were.