to had their chips

9.9

To have no chance or choice left

idiom
/hæd ðɛr tʃɪps/

: estar en un aprieto

I'm afraid the team had their chips when their best player was sent off.

Examples

After losing the final match, the team really had their chips.
By the time they realized the danger, they had their chips.
If the money doesn't come through soon, the project will have had their chips.
Don't you see? They had their chips long ago!
The company's finances were in such a dire state that they had their chips and couldn't recover.
Once the contract was canceled, the small business had their chips and had to close.
After failing to secure funding, the startup had their chips and faced bankruptcy.

Synonyms

high and dry

vsto had their chips

Informal

15 6.3

Someone has no help or basic things in a difficult situation

describes hopelessness from having no options rather than only lack of help

shit out of luck

vsto had their chips

Offensive

1 9.9

In a situation with no choice and no help to fix a problem

is British informal and less coarse, focusing on exhausted chances

to had my chips

vsto had their chips

Slang

9.9

To be in a situation with no chance to succeed

is the same idea but refers to others rather than the speaker

to have one's chips

vsto had their chips

9.9

Be in serious trouble with no way to get out

is the specific past phrasing used about others' hopeless situations

Antonyms

hopeful

189 1.8

Feeling positive and expecting a good result

in luck

36 1.6

Having something good happen by chance

How Hopeless

doomed

7 4.9

hopeless

133 2.7

to had their chips

9.9

out of luck

Informal

43 4.1

unlucky

91 1.0

Surface Forms

had their chips infinitive

had their chips past

had their chips past participle

having their chips present participle

has their chips third person singular

Morphology

have + their + chips

The idiomatic sense 'to be in a hopeless situation' cannot be derived from the literal constituents: 'have' + 'their' + 'chips' (where 'chips' is fried potato) gives no clear signal of finality or ruined chances. The meaning reflects an idiomatic/historical usage (possibly gambling or dialectal) rather than transparent composition, so a B1 learner who only knows the words would not predict it.

Etymology

Had their chips may come from gambling. One popular story says that when a player lost all their chips at the table, they had nothing left to play and could not continue. So the phrase now means 'to be in a hopeless situation' or 'to have run out of options'.