down on (one's) luck


down on (one's) luck

Experiencing a period of misfortune. Ryan is really down on his luck these days—he just lost his job, and then he got evicted from his apartment.See also: down, luck, on

down on one's luck

Afflicted by misfortune, as in They've been down on their luck ever since they moved out West. [Colloquial; second half of 1800s] See also: down, luck, on

down on your luck

Someone who is down on their luck is suffering a period of bad luck. At that time he was down on his luck — his wife had left him and his job was giving him terrible back pain. As a forty year old flight attendant down on her luck, she has a face that looks tired of life.See also: down, luck, on

down on your luck

experiencing a period of bad luck. informalSee also: down, luck, on

down on one's luck

Short of cash or credit. A nineteenth-century description of financial embarrassment, usually of a temporary nature, this term implies, with down, that the person so described at one time had more resources. Thus Thackeray wrote, “The Chevalier was. . . . to use his own picturesque expression, ‘down on his luck’” (Pendennis, 1849).See also: down, luck, on