English

Adjective

down on one's luck ‎(comparative more down on one's luck, superlative most down on one's luck)

1. (idiomatic) Unlucky or undergoing a period of bad luck, especially with respect to financial matters.
   • 1915, Edward Stratemeyer, The Rover Boys in Business, ch. 28:

     If Crabtree is down on his luck he will most likely be willing to do anything for money.

   • 1922, James Joyce, Ulysses, Episode 16:

     --He is down on his luck. He asked me to ask you to ask somebody named Boylan, a billsticker, to give him a job as a sandwichman.

   • 1954 April 19, "The New Pictures," Time:

     Willie "tries to resist"—being, as the synopsis explains, "an attractive and intelligent girl who is simply down on her luck in the ruins of postwar Germany."

   • 2008 July 1, Mel Antonen, "Rays, A's using same formula for success," USA Today (retrieved 3 Nov 2008):

     Pitcher Kyle Lohse, 29, who has had unsuccessful stints with the Minnesota Twins, Cincinnati Reds and Philadelphia Phillies, seems to have found a home with the St. Louis Cardinals, a team that has a knack for turning around pitchers down on their luck.