cut one's coat according to one's cloth

English

Alternative forms

• cut the coat according to the cloth

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

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Verb

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

1. (idiomatic) To live within one's means, without spending more than is affordable.

Translations

to live within one's means

• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 量力而行 (loeng⁶ lik⁶ ji⁴ hang⁴)

  Mandarin: 量力而行 (zh) (liànglì'érxíng)

• Finnish: elää suu säkkiä myöten
• Georgian: ჭამა ქონებაზე ჰკიდიაო (č̣ama konebaze hḳidiao)
• German: sich nach der Decke strecken
• Icelandic: sníða sér stakk eftir vexti
• Italian: fare il passo secondo la gamba
• Kazakh: көрпеңе қарай көсіл (körpeñe qarai kösıl)
• Latin: pes sic tendatur ne lodix protereatur
• Malay: ukur baju di badan sendiri
• Russian: по одёжке протя́гивай но́жки (po odjóžke protjágivaj nóžki)
• Swedish: rätta mun efter matsäcken (sv)

See also

• cut one's cloth to suit one's purse
• cut from the same cloth