down-and-out

[ doun-uh nd-out, -uh n ]

/ ˈdaʊn əndˈaʊt, -ən /

without any money, or means of support, or prospects; destitute; penniless.

without physical strength or stamina; disabled; incapacitated.

too physically weakened by repeated defeats to qualify as a competent professional boxer.

Also down-and-out·er. a person who is down-and-out.

Origin of down-and-out

An Americanism dating back to 1885–90

It is Ma who refuses to abandon the down-and-out Wilson family even though their company may slow the journey west.

Is There a Ma Joad for the Piketty Era? |Katie Baker |July 1, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
The Oscars also like down-and-out characters and misunderstood geniuses, both of which tend to beget low-talkers.

Mumbling Wins Oscars! |Zachary Pincus-Roth |March 3, 2010 |DAILY BEAST
But their impact on their down-and-out political parties may turn out to be nearly identical.

France's Sarah Palin |Eric Pape |November 27, 2009 |DAILY BEAST
There was business to be managed—no dillydallying in this day and generation, unless one would join the down-and-out club!

Making People Happy |Thompson Buchanan

Had about as much sympathy for a down-and-out, Steele did, as you'd find milk in a turnip.

Shorty McCabe on the Job |Sewell Ford
A man's a millionaire to-day and a member of the down-and-out club to-morrow.

Jack and the Check Book |John Kendrick Bangs
But that was nothin' to the down-and-out slump I found him in next night, when I goes around for my writin' lesson and so on.

Torchy |Sewell Ford
I went on down the street feeling almost like a man again and not a down-and-out ex-convict.

Kentucky in American Letters, v. 2 of 2 |John Wilson Townsend

down-and-out

without any means of livelihood; impoverished and, often, socially outcast

a person who is destitute and, often, homeless; a social outcast or derelict