breadline
/ˈbrɛdlʌɪn
/noun
1 (the breadline) British The poorest condition in which it is acceptable to live: they are not well off, but they are not on the breadline...
- You are a borderline hopeless case and unless you take action now you could be living on the breadline come retirement.
- Simultaneously, Housing Benefit officials stopped benefits for more than 100 people living on the breadline, even though they knew their actions could lead to genuine claimants losing their homes.
- Many cities were said to be turning into ghost towns, with some five to seven million people living precariously on the breadline, scratching out an existence from one day to the next.
2North American A queue of people waiting to receive free food.Our grandparents survived the Great Depression, the breadlines, the shanties, the World Wars, Viet Nam, and so many more things that we can't put into our own short lifespan....
- And bring back breadlines and 20% unemployment.
- It's all smokestacks and breadlines for him, who actually cites The Grapes of Wrath in his euphoric defense of government run programs.
