poor as a churchmouse



poor as a churchmouse

Having little or no wealth and few possessions, as in She's poor as a churchmouse, so you can't expect her to donate anything. The reason for this long-used simile is unclear, but most believe that, since churches are not known for storing food, a mouse inside one would fare poorly. It has survived such earlier phrases as poor as Job. [Second half of 1600s]
See also: poor

Common Names:

NameGenderPronouncedUsage
Zapata[zə'pa:tə]
Zhelimir-Medieval Slavic (Hypothetical)
BryonyBRIE-ə-neeEnglish (Rare)
Diodoros-Ancient Greek
Franciscusfrahn-SIS-kus (Dutch)Late Roman, Dutch
Kala (1)-Tamil