Word.ws English Dictionary

cutting one's cloth to suit one's purse

cutting one's cloth to suit one's purse is the present participle and gerund 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 cutting one's cloth to suit one's purse

What is cutting one's cloth to suit one's purse the present participle and gerund of?
Cutting one's cloth to suit one's purse is the present participle and gerund of cut one's cloth to suit one's purse.

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

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

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: cutting 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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