down on one's uppers
- idiom
- Archaic
- After losing his job, Tom was down on his uppers and struggling to make ends meet.
Examples
-
The family was down on their uppers until they received help from the community.
-
She found herself down on her uppers and had to borrow money from friends.
-
Mark is down on his uppers.
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Don't be down on your uppers! Help is on the way.
-
After losing his job, Tom was down on his uppers and struggling to make ends meet.
-
She found herself down on her uppers and had to borrow money from friends.
-
The family was down on their uppers until they received help from the community.
Synonyms
17
6.3
Someone has no help or basic things in a difficult situation
12
7.7
Poor and without a home or money
9
8.0
Having very little money and struggling to pay bills
1
8.2
Looking old and in poor condition because of poverty
1
8.6
A person who has little money and cannot buy basic things
Having bad luck, often with money
To get into serious trouble because of bad money choices
Antonyms
How Poor
Surface Forms
Morphology
The overall meaning ('in poverty; financially hard up') cannot be derived from the literal meanings of 'down' + 'on' + 'one's' + 'uppers' — especially because 'uppers' is obscure/idiomatic and not a transparent noun here. This is a settled British idiom whose sense is not compositionally predictable, so a B1 learner who knows the parts would still be unlikely to infer the intended meaning.
Etymology
Down on one's uppers may come from worn-out shoes: when the shoe sole wears away you are left with only the uppers. So the phrase came to mean 'in a difficult financial situation'.