:up: There's an idiom meaning' hard up' - which I feel is less and less used now; perhaps its only used in some dialects of Br Eng: 'to be
on your uppers'. The uppers are the top part of a shoe. If you wear through the sole you are walking
on your uppers (the edges of the uppers that wrap round under the foot).
b
PS I'm not sure that this is common enough to deserve a place in the UE idioms list. With the advent of welded soles, it's less meaningful anyway. When you wear through a sole you're '
on your socks' (not an idiom ;-)). The UE list
does have
On the ropes - Idiom Definition - UsingEnglish.com (a boxing related metaphor, and not referring just to money) and
On the skids - Idiom Definition - UsingEnglish.com .
PPS Rhyming Slang: 'Boracic' (for 'Boracic Lint'/skint). 'Skint' is more informal than 'broke' (which itself is fairly informal).