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Reader question: Please explain this sentence: “He and his mother traveled, living sometimes on a wing and a prayer.” What does “on a wing and a prayer” mean? My comments: He and his mother used to move a lot, from place to place, and didn't have everything. Sometimes, things got desperate. They may run out of food, for example. When you settle down, you can have your own home and houseful of things, furniture and kitchen utensils, everything. Not when you travel. The speaker kind of likened it to a bird flying on one wing. That's the idea of doing something on a wing and a prayer, an American idiom. Birds fly on two wings, of course. Eagles, for example, spread their wings wide and glide through the sky, surveying the earth with great ease and elegance. Now imagine the bird losing one wing due to injury. Well, it will flutter like a big butterfly if it tries at all to take to the sky. With one good wing, the eagle won't be able to balance, hence losing all its ease and comfort in the sky, let alone beauty and elegance. As a matter of fact, though, the expression “on a wing and a prayer” originally referred not to a bird but an airplane with a wing injured. When the pilot manages to make a safe landing with a damaged aircraft like that, he apparently needs to say a prayer – or two. That's the “prayer” part, a call to the high heavens for help – desperate help. | 
