уйти в люди

• ИДТИ/ПОЙТИ <УЙТИ> В ЛЮДИ obs

[VP; subj: human]

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⇒ to leave one's home in search of a job (usu. working for s.o. on whose premises one can reside):

- X пошёл в люди{{}}≈ X left home to earn his living;

- X went out to work as a live-in hired hand <as a live-in domestic etc>.

     ♦ Двенадцати лет бабка пошла в люди, была прислугой, нянчила детей, потом стала прачкой (Кузнецов 1). At the age of twelve my grandmother went out to work; she looked after other people's children, worked as a domestic servant and then became a washerwoman (1b).