threadbare

adjective

1. having the nap worn off so as to lay bare the threads of the warp and woof, as a fabric, garment, etc.
2. wearing threadbare clothes; shabby or poor: a threadbare old man.
3. meager, scanty, or poor: a threadbare emotional life.
4. hackneyed; trite; ineffectively stale: threadbare arguments.

adjective

1. (of cloth, clothing, etc) having the nap worn off so that the threads are exposed
2. meagre or poora threadbare existence
3. hackneyeda threadbare argument
4. wearing threadbare clothes; shabby

adj.mid-14c., from thread (n.) + bare. The notion is of “having the nap worn off,” leaving bare the threads.