on one's uppers en · ADP
Etymology
From uppers (“the top part of a leather shoe”), having worn through the sole.
Meanings
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destitute; poor.
“We are bound toward the scuppers, And the time has come to act, Or we’ll both be on our uppers For a fact!”
1902, Guy Wetmore Carryl, How a Cat Was Annoyed and a Poet Was Booted: