HAND TO MOUTH

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does hand to mouth mean? 

• HAND TO MOUTH (adverb)
  The adverb HAND TO MOUTH has 1 sense:

1. with barely enough money for immediate needs

  Familiarity information: HAND TO MOUTH used as an adverb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• HAND TO MOUTH (adverb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

With barely enough money for immediate needs

Context example:

they lived form hand to mouth

 Context examples 

No one knows where his grip may fall, for he is far too rich and far too cunning to work from hand to mouth.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I never in my life saw men so careless of the morrow; hand to mouth is the only word that can describe their way of doing; and what with wasted food and sleeping sentries, though they were bold enough for a brush and be done with it, I could see their entire unfitness for anything like a prolonged campaign.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)