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Meaning of on the skids in English:

on the skids

phrase

informal

  • (of a person or their career) in a bad state; failing.

    • ‘I was on the skids but now I'm doing all right’
    • ‘By 1924, though, his career was long since on the skids, confined mostly to supervision of films.’
    • ‘If there is enough opposition, and if that opposition is sufficiently vociferous, then he is going to fear that his career is on the skids.’
    • ‘As Beck suggests, getting a chance is usually the most difficult hurdle on the path toward coming back for a player whose career has been on the skids.’
    • ‘So, one would assume that her international career is well and truly on the skids, Miles.’
    • ‘Well you don't sense you're on the skids obviously.’
    • ‘It is not just newspaper circulation and fixed line phone calls which are on the skids in Australia, snail mail is also starting to contract at gathering speed.’
    • ‘In the cartoon, Death goes on a mini-adventure that leads him to alcohol and love, ending with our poor skeleton friend living life on the skids.’
    • ‘Within 10 months, the internet firm was on the skids.’
    • ‘Dennis Hope, a formerly unemployed ventriloquist, was on the skids in 1980.’
    • ‘Why is our economic and emotional health on the skids?’