to be on one's last legs. (16th century)
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
To be very tired or near the end of one's strength or usefulness
Literally: a person or animal struggling to stand or walk
Examples
The old car is on its last legs and needs to be replaced
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed on English Wikiquote “English proverbs” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31). 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 “to be on one's last legs. (16th century)” mean?
To be very tired or near the end of one's strength or usefulness Literally: a person or animal struggling to stand or walk
Is “to be on one's last legs. (16th century)” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.