stone broke
See also: stone-broke
English
Alternative forms
- stone-broke
Etymology
From stone (“absolutely, completely”) + broke, probably under the influence of earlier expressions such as hard up.
Adjective
stone broke (not comparable)
- (slang) Synonym of broke: without any money.
- 1886, Heinrich Baumann, Londinismen: Slang und Cant, p. 196:
- Stone-broke P... völlig zu Grunde gerichtet.
- 1981, Olivier Bernier, Pleasure & Privilege, Ch. xii, p. 197:
- Naples wasn't exactly short of nobility... Some were stone broke.
- 1886, Heinrich Baumann, Londinismen: Slang und Cant, p. 196:
Derived terms
- stony broke
References
- stone broke at OneLook Dictionary Search
- “broke, adj.”, in OED Online
, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1888. - “stone, n.”, in OED Online
, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1917.