live over the brush

Possibly ultimately derived from broomstick wedding, with broomstick meaning ersatz or sham. Often said to be derived from early British or Romani wedding practices, in which a couple could become married outside the Church by leaping a broom or brush, but no evidence exists for such a ceremony.

• "I know what people think about the North. They think it's all muck and living over the brush with women like Elsie Tanner."
• "After the birth of their son, Stanley, the couple moved to Bradford and "lived over the brush" in West Bowling in a back-to-back terraced house."
• "I was saying to my Albert, I wouldn't be surprised if him and that so-called wife of his was living over the brush."

• live in sin