shatting on one's uppers

English

Etymology

From variant of shitting + uppers.

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

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Phrase

shatting on one's uppers

1. (US slang) Completely out of money; broke. [from 19th c.]
   • 1939, Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep, Penguin, published 2011, page 188:

     ‘She has to blow and she's shatting on her uppers. She figures the peeper can get her some dough.’