for dear life

for dear life (not comparable)

1. Desperately.
   • 1970, Jacob A. Riis, Out of Mulberry Street: Stories of Tenement Life in New York City, →ISBN:

     Paolo sat crosslegged on his bench, stitching away for dear life.

   • - 2005, Mary Jane McKinney, Grammardog Guide to Conrad Short Stories, →ISBN, page 27:

     I remember the heat, the deluge of rain-squalls that kept us baling for dear life (but filled our water cask), and I remember sixteen hours on end with a mouth dry as a cinder and a steering oar over the stern to keep my first command head on to a breaking sea.

   • 2012, Jack Canfield & ‎Mark Victor Hansen, Chicken Soup for the Girl's Soul, →ISBN:

     We want you to see that these years can be a rollercoaster ride where sometimes you have to hang on for dear life—but you will come through it.

   • 2014, Jillian Carmichael, Middle School Crazy, →ISBN, page 1:

     Each morning you get in the roller coaster car, strap yourself in, and hold on for dear life hoping you won't throw up or pass out.

Most often used with hold on or hang on.