on a shoestring
Related to on a shoestring: keep the wolf from the door, living on a shoestring
on a shoestring
On or within a very tight or limited financial budget. We were living on a shoestring for a while after our baby was born, but, luckily, I got a promotion, and our situation has improved a bit. I'd love to come out to dinner with you, but I'm on a bit of a shoestring at the moment.
See also: on, shoestring
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
on a shoestring
Fig. with a very small amount of money. We lived on a shoestring for years before I got a good-paying job. John traveled to Florida on a shoestring.
See also: on, shoestring
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
on a shoestring
With very limited financial means, as in The newlyweds were living on a shoestring. The precise allusion in this term is unclear. One fanciful theory is that debtors in British prisons would lower a shoe by its laces from a window so as to collect funds from visitors or passers-by. A more likely theory is that it alludes to the slender shape of a shoelace, likening it to slender resources. [Late 1800s]
See also: on, shoestring
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
on a shoestring
COMMON If you do something on a shoestring, you do it using very little money. The theatre was always run on a shoestring. Newly divorced with two children to raise, she was living on a shoestring. Note: You can use shoestring before a noun. Both films were made on a shoestring budget. McNair says he will continue his shoestring campaign in every part of Alabama. Note: In American English, shoelaces are called shoestrings. The reference here is to the very small amount of money that is needed to buy shoelaces.
See also: on, shoestring
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed.
on a shoestring
on a small or inadequate budget.Shoestring is a North American term for a shoelace, and the expression suggests metaphorically the ‘thinness’ of financial resources.
See also: on, shoestring
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
(do something) on a ˈshoestring
(informal) (do something) with very little money: In the early years, the business was run on a shoestring.See also: on, shoestring
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
on a shoestring
mod. on practically no money; on a very tight budget. (see also shoestring.) I run my business on a shoestring. I never know from day to day whether I will survive.
See also: on, shoestring
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions
on a shoestring
On a strict budget; with very limited means. The source of this term is not wholly clear. One writer suggests it comes from one’s resources being limited to shoelaces. In Exeter, England, there is a legend that prisoners confined in debtor’s prison would lower a shoe from the window to collect money so they could get out of prison, a tale appealing to tourists but far-fetched. The likeliest explanation is the physical nature of a shoelace—that is, a very slender cord or string, which became a metaphor for slender resources stretched to their utmost. It originated (according to the OED) in America in the late nineteenth century. A 1904 issue of Cosmopolitan stated, “He speculated on a shoestring—an exceedingly small margin.”
See also: on, shoestring
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
- live on a shoestring
- get along on a shoestring
- shoestring
- get by on a shoestring
- intervene between
- intervene between (multiple people)
- real time
- in real time
- intervene
- add another string to (one's) bow