"keep body and soul together" meaning in English

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "keeps body and soul together",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "keeping body and soul together",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "kept body and soul together",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "kept body and soul together",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "keep<,,kept> body and soul together"
      },
      "expansion": "keep body and soul together (third-person singular simple present keeps body and soul together, present participle keeping body and soul together, simple past and past participle kept body and soul together)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English predicates",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "How did you keep body and soul together before you got your first paying job as an actor?",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1969 March 31, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., Slaughterhouse-Five […] (A Seymour Lawrence Book), New York, N.Y.: Delacorte Press, →OCLC, page 142:",
          "text": "Trout lives in a rented basement in Ilium, about two miles from Billy’s nice white home. He himself has no idea how many novels he has written—possibly seventy-five of the things. Not one of them has made money. So Trout keeps body and soul together as a circulation man for the Ilium Gazette, manages newspaper delivery boys, bullies and flatters and cheats little kids.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Of a person: to survive; to continue living."
      ],
      "id": "en-keep_body_and_soul_together-en-verb-oWzrnFZz",
      "links": [
        [
          "survive",
          "survive#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "living",
          "live#Verb"
        ]
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "body and soul"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "keep soul and body together"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "keep body and soul together"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "keeps body and soul together",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "keeping body and soul together",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "kept body and soul together",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "kept body and soul together",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "keep<,,kept> body and soul together"
      },
      "expansion": "keep body and soul together (third-person singular simple present keeps body and soul together, present participle keeping body and soul together, simple past and past participle kept body and soul together)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "body and soul"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English predicates",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples",
        "English verbs",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "How did you keep body and soul together before you got your first paying job as an actor?",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1969 March 31, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., Slaughterhouse-Five […] (A Seymour Lawrence Book), New York, N.Y.: Delacorte Press, →OCLC, page 142:",
          "text": "Trout lives in a rented basement in Ilium, about two miles from Billy’s nice white home. He himself has no idea how many novels he has written—possibly seventy-five of the things. Not one of them has made money. So Trout keeps body and soul together as a circulation man for the Ilium Gazette, manages newspaper delivery boys, bullies and flatters and cheats little kids.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Of a person: to survive; to continue living."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "survive",
          "survive#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "living",
          "live#Verb"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "keep soul and body together"
    }
  ],
  "word": "keep body and soul together"
}