to put food on the table
38
2.8
- idiom
- Informal
:
ganarse la vida
- You have no idea what it's like being a parent... to have to put food on the table and pay rent.
- put food on the table
So I found archery to put food on the table for them.
- So I found archery to put food on the table for them.
- Well, how are you going to put food on the table now then?
- If I am contributing value, put food on the table for my kids, I'm a good dad who's there.
- Like do I actually just need to put food on the table?
- And you know that my dad loves his job, but it's, you know, it's a necessity to work that hard to put food on the table, to pay the bills, right?
- What about looking for that side job while you're looking for those acting roles that are going to put food on the table?
- Do we want low Rd., low wage jobs or do we want opportunities to really support your family and put food on the table?
- He's stable, provided he won't put food on the table, raise the kids and all this.
- We are expecting to send our SIP, put, put food on the table.
- So there there were the obstacles of, you know, trying to figure it out, parents and grandparents putting food on the table.
- It's like life or death, like trying to put food on the table and a greed like greed, like making more money and, and, and turf ego businesses and stuff like that.
Examples
-
Just being able to put food on the table, that's what my parents struggled for.
-
He works long hours at two jobs to put food on the table for his family.
-
I will always be able to put food on the table.
-
All the rest of them manage to put food on the table.
-
It's tough putting food on the table.
-
We got to put food on the table.
-
I have to put food on the table for my husband and my child.
Fiction book (1993) -
How are you able to put food on the table?
Fiction book (2002) -
It pays the bills, it puts food on the table.
-
Everyday I hear from more and more of my Rotherham constituents who are struggling to put food on the table, to keep their lights on, to fuel their cars.
Synonyms
∞
1.9
Earn money to support yourself or other people
74
2.3
Provide enough money to cover regular living costs like rent and food
56
3.5
To live on a small amount of money
9
4.4
To earn money to support your family
Do enough work, paid or not, to pay for food and a place to live
How Well-Off
88
3.7
33
2.2
- Informal
38
2.8
121
3.1
Surface Forms
Morphology
The literal composition ('put' + 'food' + 'on' + 'table') directly suggests providing meals or household provisioning, so learners can infer a sense of supplying or supporting a family. However, the MWE's conventional metonymic extension to 'earn enough money to support oneself or one's family' is not fully predictable from the parts without some cultural/usage knowledge (though cross-linguistic parallels make it relatively guessable), so it is only partially transparent to a B1 learner.
Etymology
Put food on the table comes from the simple image of a parent bringing food home and putting it on the table so the family can eat. So, that act showed they could 'support' the family, and the phrase now means 'to earn enough money to support oneself or one's family'.