| 词汇 | poor as a church mouse |
| 词源 | poor as a church mouse. This saying, meaning poor indeed, goes back to 17th-century England, but probably was taken from similar German and French expressions that are much older. Church mice in centuries past had lean pickings, if they had any pickings at all. Churches then had no recreational fa- cilities with well-stocked kitchens as do some of their modern- day counterparts. They were used only for religious services and prayer, and a mouse living in one would be hard put to find a crumb. |
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