flat broke
Also, stone or stony broke. Completely penniless. For example, I can't help you—I'm flat broke, or He's stone broke again. The first term dates from the mid-1800s and uses flat in the sense of “completely” or “downright.” The variant dates from the late 1800s.
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
Related Words for flat broke
needy, penniless, impoverished, destitute, poverty-stricken, bankrupt, broke, indigent, underprivileged, meager, low, insolvent, poor, strapped, exhausted, distressed, barren, flat, down-and-out, scantyExamples from the Web for flat broke
Historical Examples of flat broke
At last he says to me, 'You are flat-broke, and they'll all be down on you when you get back to the post.
The DeserterCharles King