out at elbow

alternative out-at-elbow · alternative out at elbows

1. not comparableOf a coat, jumper, etc., worn through at the elbows; of clothes, shabby, in poor condition.

   [T]he children [...] went about in shabby, out-at-elbow clothes, and much worn boots.

   1894, Ethel Turner, Seven Little Australians, published 1912, page 18

2. not comparableIn needy circumstances.

   There was an old soldier who had been long in the wars—so long, that he was quite out-at-elbows, and did not know where to go to find a living.

   1890, Joseph Jacobs, “Jack Hannaford”, in English Fairy Tales, page 40