make ends meet

present singular third person makes ends meet · participle present making ends meet · participle past made ends meet · past made ends meet

1. idiomaticTo have enough money to cover expenses; to get by financially; to get through the pay period (sufficient to meet the next payday).

   'Cause it's a bitter sweet symphony that's life / Trying to make ends meet, you're a slave to money then you die

   1997, Richard Ashcroft, “Bitter Sweet Symphony”, performed by The Verve

   5 more examples

   ... a schoolmaster, whose income being small, he was fain to keep a glass of good liquor for the entertainment of passengers, by which he made shift to make the two ends of the year meet.

   1748, Tobias Smollett, “The Adventures of Roderick Random”, in The Miscellaneous works of Tobias Smollett, page 18

   Although most of the poor and displaced in Khartoum struggle to make ends meet, a very small number not only find work, but form small co-operatives.

   1996, Chris Peters, Sudan: A Nation in the Balance, page 42

   Very many Londoners reported to us that they were struggling to make ends meet; that it was a constant battle to keep their heads above water, or that they had only just got into the position of being able to breathe freely.

   2007, Peter Geoffrey Hall, London Voices, London Lives, page 269

   Barclays, which until now has made ends meet with costly loans from the Middle East rather than take public money, may soon join the queue for the emergency medicine too.

   2009 February 27, “Avarice and Audacity”, in The Guardian, UK

   Investigators discover that Captain Ospina was forced to take a second job, moonlighting in a bar, in order to make ends meet for his family.

   2011 August 19, Carl Knutson, “The Plane That Flew Too High” (41:00 from the start), in Mayday: Air Disaster, season 11, episode 2, spoken by Jonathan Aris