on relief

Idioms and Phrases

Also, on welfare ; on the dole . Receiving public financial assistance, as in Half the people in this town are on relief , or Don hated the idea of going on welfare . The first two terms originated in the United States in the 1930s, when government assistance of this kind was first instituted. On the dole , used mainly in Britain but occasionally in America, dates from the 1920s, although the use of dole for a charitable gift dates from about 1200.