earn one's keep

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

earn one's keep (third-person singular simple present earns one's keep, present participle earning one's keep, simple past and past participle earned one's keep or earnt one's keep)

1. (idiomatic) To perform satisfactory physical labor or to provide other worthy services in return for remuneration, lodging, or other benefits; to support oneself financially.

   Synonyms: earn one's corn, earn one's crust, carry one's weight; see also Thesaurus:make a living

   • 1880, R. D. Blackmore, chapter 41, in Mary Anerley: A Yorkshire Tale:

     Being a very strong, active man, with gift of versatile hand and brain, and early acquaintance with handicrafts, Christopher Bert could earn his keep.

   • 2005 July 1, Alan Riding, “A Curvy Klee Museum, Sprouting From the Swiss Hills”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN:

     Klee also left home to make his name, moving in his late teens to Munich, where he studied art, earned his keep as a musician and, in 1906, married Lily Stumpf.

2. (figurative) To be worthwhile.
   • 2021 February, The Road Ahead, Brisbane, page 55, column 2:

     The lack of bottom-end grunt presents as a particular problem in hilly terrain where the five-speed manual gearbox really earns its keep.