Meaning of broken-down valise | Babel Free

Definitions

1. A person who has fallen on hard times; a has-been.
   US, slang
2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see broken down, valise.

Examples

“"In the football business there are so many sleazy bums — broken-down valises, I call them — who don't have two quarters to rub together," Bloom said.”

“Adam Schiff: "Abe Mercer. Ten years ago, he was a broken-down valise. Bad divorce, partners suing him, ethics review. If Doc Gooden can rise from the dead, why not Abe Mercer?"”

“Sonny was just a dirty-looking old man, a broken-down old man. A broken-down valise. That's Charlie's words. That's what he'd call a washed-up wiseguy.”

“The Mafia and the FBI both considered Greg a relic, a washed-up has-been or, in the colorful language of the Mafia, a brokester, a broken-down valise.”

“Wedged into the rumble seat was my broken-down valise with everything I possessed in the world.”

CEFR level