‘On the other hand, you could write, of the same individual: His shoes were down-at-heel and his raincoat was streaked with dirt.’
‘Chinese servants should not (strictly speaking) appear before their masters in short clothes, nor without socks, nor with shoes down at heel, nor with their tail tied round the head.’
‘Make sure your shoes are well polished and not down-at-heel’
‘It has come to imply decrepitude: down-at-heel shoes, wrinkled stockings, woolly hats and trousers kept up by bits of string.’
‘Some were repellently shabby, with loose, stained suit jackets and down-at-heel black leather shoes, other with the shine of prosperity, plump in spotless waistcoats.’
‘Surely everyone here doesn't just throw their shoes away when they get a little down at heel?’
‘Alex Wilson, who worked for Nugget when he first came to the Centre, was a short man, 1.6 metres tall with his down-at-heel boots on.’
‘And equally, forget about making a good impression in your designer garb if your tie doesn't match or your shoes are down at heel.’
1.1Showing signs of neglect and deterioration; shabby.
‘a down-at-the-heels house’
‘So, Gar ’, I ask, affecting a little down-at-the-heels bonhomie, do you buy a monthly pass, or just purchase tickets as needed?’
‘Dad had recently retired after a lifetime as a journalist, and the whole family joined them at a slightly down-at-the-heels resort in the White Mountains that offered a shaggy nine-hole golf course out back.’
‘It's everything you like about tiki bars, plus everything you like about not having to leave the realness of the inner city, and it even has a comfy old-style Minneapolis down-at-the-heels quality.’
‘Two are notable-a witty fop, worthy of Oscar Wilde, who lives nearby, and a down-at-the-heels aristocrat, who has been sponging off the family for decades.’
‘I've had enough: enough waiting in the cold for an overfull bus to pass me by; enough riding the streetcar with someone's elbow in my ribs; enough laying out 16 bucks a day for my family to ride the crowded, tardy, down-at-the-heels TTC.’
‘Not long ago Rockford Construction purchased two down-at-the-heels schools from Grand Rapids for $1 each and renovated them to the tune of $18 million.’
‘Lo is best known for his development of Xintiandi, a down-at-the-heels Shanghai neighborhood that he transformed into the city's premiere entertainment and retail district.’
‘It's a seemingly random collection of down-at-the-heels housing, low-rent stores, and trash-strewn vacant lots.’
‘The 175-employee company has also become an anchor in restoring the city's down-at-the-heels Over the Rhine section.’
‘After Francesco gave his armor to a down-at-the-heels knight and returned to Assisi, his father was outraged: all that expense gone to waste.’
‘Looking into the arcade, one sees a flower stall, a greengrocer's shop and a down-at-the-heels tropical-themed restaurant.’
‘The down-at-the-heels Atlantic City Boardwalk and its 1970s-era casinos can't match the glitz of the Vegas Strip.’
‘The Robesons are old settlers in this once down-at-the-heels urban neighborhood very recently gone trendy and upscale.’
‘Even the comparatively down-at-the-heels south end of town, where the Art Center campus is being built, is in good shape.’
‘Dark, in need of a haircut and pathologically thin, he looked like a down-at-the-heels rocker.’
‘Perhaps the buyers were put off by the down-at-the-heels atmosphere and grime level of the joint.’
run down, dilapidated, in disrepair, neglected, uncared-for, unmaintained, depressed
scruffy, shabby, shabbily dressed, poorly dressed, shoddy, ragged, out at elbows, tattered, mangy, sorry, disreputable
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