As poor as a church mouse
Meaning
To be extremely poor, possessing very little or no money or material possessions.
Origin
Imagine a tiny, desperate mouse, its whiskers twitching, scurrying through the vast, cold emptiness of an old church. Unlike a bustling home or a farmer's barn, a church offered no forgotten crumbs, no spilled flour, no discarded scraps from human meals. Its floors were swept clean, its altar pristine, leaving nothing for even the most resourceful rodent to scavenge. This stark reality—the complete, unyielding lack of sustenance in a place dedicated to the spiritual rather than the material—cemented the image of a church mouse as the epitome of utter destitution, a creature literally starving in the house of God.
Examples
- After losing his job and having no savings, he was as poor as a church mouse, relying on the generosity of friends.
- Despite inheriting a grand title, the impoverished duke lived as poor as a church mouse in a dilapidated wing of his ancestral home.