down-at-the-heels or down-at-the-heel [doun-uh t-th uh-heelz or doun-uh t-th uh-heel] ExamplesWord Origin adjective
- of a shabby, run-down appearance; seedy: He is rapidly becoming a down-at-heel drifter and a drunk.
Also down-at-heel, down-at-heels. Origin of down-at-the-heels First recorded in 1695–1705 Examples from the Web for down-at-the-heels Historical Examples of down-at-the-heels
“Down-at-the-heels gentility gone into trade,” smiled Marcia.
Charles Neville Buck
Mr. Howells has aptly described Hannibal as a “loafing, out-at-elbows, down-at-the-heels, slaveholding Mississippi river town.”
Archibald Henderson