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Glite Dictionary
to cross the breadline

to cross the breadline

8.2
To have less money than needed to buy basic food and pay bills
  • idiom
translation icon : caer por debajo del umbral de pobreza
  • If food prices keep rising, more elderly people may cross the breadline this year.

Examples

  • She worried her part-time wages would soon have her crossing the breadline.

  • If you lose your job, you might cross the breadline.

  • During the recession, thousands of families crossed the breadline despite government support.

  • Many families crossed the breadline during the recession.

  • During the recession, thousands of families crossed the breadline despite government support.

  • If food prices keep rising, more elderly people may cross the breadline this year.

  • She worried her part-time wages would soon have her crossing the breadline.

Surface Forms

cross the breadline infinitive
crossed the breadline past
crossed the breadline past participle
crossing the breadline present participle
crosses the breadline third person singular

Morphology

cross + the + breadline

The verb 'cross' (to go across) combined with 'breadline' (the poverty threshold) yields a straightforward compositional meaning: to move across that threshold into poverty. Given knowledge of both constituents, a B1 learner can infer 'cross the breadline' means to fall below the minimum income level, so the phrase is transparently derivable from its parts.

Etymology

Cross the breadline may come from the image of people lining up for free bread in hard times: if you had to join the breadline, it showed you had no money for food. So, to cross the breadline now means 'to fall below the minimum income needed for basic living'.