breadliner

English

Etymology

From breadline +‎ -er.

Noun

breadliner (plural breadliners)

1. Someone who lives at the poverty level.
   • 1975, Alex Baskin, The Unemployed (1930-1932), page 4:

     After all the breadline makes breadliners.

   • 2009, Maria Roberts, Single Mother on the Verge:

     He looks vaguely charmed to meet a bona fide plebeian; a real-life breadliner.

   • 2011, Stephen Weissman, Chaplin: A Life:

     Hannah Hill Chaplin's precipitous decline from headliner to breadliner was a devastating defeat for the formerly “light-hearted and gay” music hall comedienne, better known to her fans and admirers as "that charming little chanter, Lillie Harley" — or Lily Harley, the usual spelling.