earn your keep
Work for room
To earn your keep is to contribute enough work or value to justify the resources you consume—originally room and board, now any support or position.
Someone who earns their keep pulls their weight: The new intern really earns her keep.
The phrase implies an exchange: you're not freeloading if you're producing.
- pull one's weightDo one's fair share
- hard workSustained strenuous effort
- sweatMoisture from skin pores
- blood sweat and tearsMaximum physical and emotional exertion
- paycheckCompensation for labor
hard day's work · bring home the bacon · contribute · fair share · hustle · work ethic · labor · chores · responsibility · roof over head · bread and butter · honest living · grit · toil · pitch in · roll up sleeves · dues · grind
- labor idiomsnose to the grindstone, burning the midnight oil, crunch time, work like a dog, elbow grease
- work ethicdiligence, hard worker, industriousness, go-getter, hard work
earn your keepfreeload
Take without reciprocating
mooch · free ride · sponge · take advantage · scrounge
earn your keepslack off
Reduce one's effort
loaf · coast · do nothing · goldbricking · malingering
earn, earns, earned, earning, earnings, earner, earners, your, yours