make ends meet

Unknown. Perhaps originally referred to the ends of rope meeting, signifying continuity and therefore security and stability. Perhaps shifting later to refer to the attempt at making money last from one pay period to the next (i.e. the ends), thereby leaving no gap or break in the availability of funds. Compare French joindre les deux bouts (literally “join the two ends”) with the same meaning. The form make both ends meet is attested from the 17th century, and was the more common form until the early-to-mid 20th century.

• "... a schoolmaster, whose income being small, he was fain to keep a glass of good liquor for the entertainment of passengers, by which he made shift to make the two ends of the year meet."
• "Although most of the poor and displaced in Khartoum struggle to make ends meet, a very small number not only find work, but form small co-operatives."
• "'Cause it's a bitter sweet symphony that's life / Trying to make ends meet, you're a slave to money then you die"
• "Very many Londoners reported to us that they were struggling to make ends meet; that it was a constant battle to keep their heads above water, or that they had only just got into the position of being able to breathe freely."
• "Barclays, which until now has made ends meet with costly loans from the Middle East rather than take public money, may soon join the queue for the emergency medicine too."
• "Investigators discover that Captain Ospina was forced to take a second job, moonlighting in a bar, in order to make ends meet for his family."
• "TSSA General Secretary Manuel Cortes was typically forthright in his criticism by claiming that Sunak had "blatantly failed" to cure "a growing tragedy", as "every single day, more and more families can't make ends meet"."

• make a living
• make both ends meet