to earn one's keep
- idiom
- Informal
:
ganarse el sustento
- In order to support herself, she knew she had to earn her keep by finding a job.
Examples
-
It's time you earned your keep.
-
You've got to earn your keep in this sisterhood.
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Well, Max said I had to earn my keep.
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Are you ready to earn your keep?
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You said it was time for her to earn her keep.
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It's time to earn your keep, Doc.
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I figured it's time you started earning your keep.
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Make sure he earns his keep.
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Well, I ran out of money, so I've been helping out around here to earn my keep.
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Bobby Rayburn again failed to earn his keep.
Synonyms
477
1.2
To get money by working or running a business
38
3.3
To earn money regularly for your family
33
2.2
To make money to support yourself
25
2.2
To earn money by having a job
9
4.4
To earn money to support your family
To make enough money to live
How Self-Supporting
- Informal
- Informal
486
1.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is directly compositional: 'earn' (to receive payment) + 'one's' (possessive placeholder) + 'keep' (support/means of living) yields the meaning 'earn enough to support oneself.' This mapping is a straightforward verb + object composition and parallels common expressions in other languages, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent senses will understand it.
Etymology
Earn one's keep may come from a time when servants had to earn their keep, meaning the food and place to live, by doing work, so they were paid with 'room and board'. So today it means 'to earn enough to support yourself'.