Word.ws English Dictionary

cuts one's cloth to suit one's purse

cuts one's cloth to suit one's purse is the third-person singular simple present indicative of cut one's cloth to suit one's purse.

Meaning of cut one's cloth to suit one's purse

Verb

cut one's cloth to suit one's purse (third-person singular simple present cuts one's cloth to suit one's purse, present participle cutting one's cloth to suit one's purse, simple past and past participle cut one's cloth to suit one's purse)

  1. (idiomatic) To settle for less when money or resources are limited.
    • A super-educated fish whose purpose seems bent on humiliating us? Or does he cut his cloth to suit-his purse, becoming choosy when the occasion allows, returning to catholic tastes when times are harder?2004, Norman Marsh, Trout Stream Insects of New Zealand, page 189

Questions about cuts one's cloth to suit one's purse

What is cuts one's cloth to suit one's purse the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Cuts one's cloth to suit one's purse is the third-person singular simple present indicative of cut one's cloth to suit one's purse.

Words near cuts one's cloth to suit one's purse in the dictionary

  1. cuts off a corner
  2. cuts off at the pass
  3. cuts off more than one can chew
  4. cuts off one's nose to spite one's face
  5. cuts one loose
  6. cuts one's cloth to suit one's purse
  7. cuts one's coat according to one's cloth
  8. cuts one's eyeteeth
  9. cuts one's losses
  10. cuts one's lucky
  11. cuts one's own throat

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: cuts one's cloth to suit one's purse (page history and authors); cut one's cloth to suit one's purse (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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