the shirt off one's back
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
To give something precious or one's last possession
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Để cho đi điều gì đó quý giá hoặc sở hữu cuối cùng
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: the shirt off one's back
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
He would give you the shirt off his back if you needed it
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
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 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “the shirt off one's back” mean?
To give something precious or one's last possession Literally: the shirt off one's back
Is “the shirt off one's back” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.