to earn crust
- idiom
- UK
:
ganarse la vida
- To support her family, she has to earn crust by working multiple jobs.
Examples
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He needs to earn crust to pay the bills.
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Many artists find it challenging to earn crust through their work alone.
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After losing his job, he had to earn crust by taking up odd tasks.
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She moved to the city hoping to earn crust and build a better future.
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I earn crust by working two jobs.
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He struggles to earn crust in this competitive market.
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After graduation, she found it difficult to earn crust in her chosen field.
Synonyms
477
1.2
To get money by working or running a business
33
2.2
To make money to support yourself
25
2.2
To earn money by having a job
Do enough work, paid or not, to pay for food and a place to live
How Financially Secure
- UK
10
5.1
Surface Forms
Morphology
earn + crust
The verb 'earn' combined with 'crust' (literal bread crust/food) yields a metonymic sense of earning basic sustenance, so a learner who knows both words could plausibly infer 'to make a living'. However, the mapping from 'crust' to 'livelihood' is a figurative, somewhat dialectal/idiomatic extension (often heard as 'earn a crust') and is not a fully predictable compositional meaning, so prior exposure helps.
Etymology
Earn crust comes from the simple image of crust as the basic part of bread or the food you need each day. So, to earn crust means 'to make a living' — to get enough money to buy basic food and support yourself.