Bretrick
Well-known Member
- Location
- Perth Western Australia
The idiom "to tide someone over" is derived from a seafaring term.
Sailors would sometimes depend on the tide to help them get from one place to another, and they would need to wait, riding the tide, until it was deep enough to move.
Without any wind to fill the sails, you could simply float with the tide. This is a less than ideal way to get somewhere, but that is the point of the expression.
If something like a loan from a bank tides someone over, that money can carry him or her through the hard times. When things get better the person can repay the loan.
Sailors would sometimes depend on the tide to help them get from one place to another, and they would need to wait, riding the tide, until it was deep enough to move.
Without any wind to fill the sails, you could simply float with the tide. This is a less than ideal way to get somewhere, but that is the point of the expression.
If something like a loan from a bank tides someone over, that money can carry him or her through the hard times. When things get better the person can repay the loan.
