earn one's keep
English
Pronunciation
Audio (AU) (file)
Verb
earn one's keep (third-person singular simple present earns one's keep, present participle earning one's keep, simple past and past participle earned one's keep or earnt one's keep)
- (idiomatic) To perform satisfactory physical labor or to provide other worthy services in return for remuneration, lodging, or other benefits; to support oneself financially.
- Synonyms: earn one's corn, earn one's crust, carry one's weight
- 1880, R. D. Blackmore, chapter 41, in Mary Anerley: A Yorkshire Tale:
- Being a very strong, active man, with gift of versatile hand and brain, and early acquaintance with handicrafts, Christopher Bert could earn his keep.
- 2005 July 1, Alan Riding, “A Curvy Klee Museum, Sprouting From the Swiss Hills”, in The New York Times, ISSN 0362-4331:
- Klee also left home to make his name, moving in his late teens to Munich, where he studied art, earned his keep as a musician and, in 1906, married Lily Stumpf.
- (figuratively) To be worthwhile.
- 2021 February 1, The Road Ahead, page 55, column 2:
- The lack of bottom-end grunt presents as a particular problem in hilly terrain where the five-speed manual gearbox really earns its keep.
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Translations
to perform physical labor or to provide services for remuneration, lodging, etc.
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to be worthwhile
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