on one's uppers

English

Etymology

From uppers (“the top part of a leather shoe”), having worn through the sole.

Prepositional phrase

on one's uppers

destitute; poor.
- 1902, Guy Wetmore Carryl, How a Cat Was Annoyed and a Poet Was Booted
  “We are bound toward the scuppers,
  
  And the time has come to act,
  
  Or we’ll both be on our uppers
  
  For a fact!”

Synonyms

down on one's uppers

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