down at heel
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Worn out or run down, often financially or socially
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
mòn mỏi hoặc kiệt quệ, thường về mặt tài chính hoặc xã hội
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: shoes with worn-out heels
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The live anniversary performance of Messiah by George Frederic Handel (C4, Monday: 8.30–11.40 pm) will be given some way from down - at - heel Fishamble Street at the Point Theatre.
Drinkers also complained about the poor state of pub toilets and ‘ down at heel’ gardens.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “down at heel” mean?
Worn out or run down, often financially or socially Literally: shoes with worn-out heels
Is “down at heel” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.