out at elbow

English

Alternative forms

• out-at-elbow
• out at elbows

Adjective

out at elbow (not comparable)

1. Of a coat, jumper, etc., worn through at the elbows; of clothes, shabby, in poor condition.
   • 1894, Ethel Turner, Seven Little Australians, published 1912, page 18:

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

2. In needy circumstances.

Translations

shabby

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: fillete, fattigslig (no), loslitt