lose one's shirt
Meaning: To lose all one's money.
Language: English
Literally: (Already vivid in English)
Example: “He lost his shirt betting on the race.”
Category: Daily Life
Origin: The shirt stands for the last thing a person owns, as in "give the shirt off one's back." The phrase is American from the early 20th century, often about gambling and the stock market.
Equivalents in other languages
- Italian: Rimanere in mutande — literally: To be left in your underwear
More idioms — Daily Life
- every little bit helps — Even a small contribution is worth having.
- get the wrong end of the stick — To misunderstand something completely.
- on tenterhooks — In anxious suspense.
- on the ropes — Close to defeat or collapse.
- move with the times — To keep up with change instead of clinging to old ways.
- beat the drum for something — To promote something loudly and publicly.
More English idioms
- have a bee in one's bonnet — To be obsessed with one idea.
- put down roots — To settle somewhere permanently.
- start off on the wrong foot — To begin something badly.
- take one's breath away — To astonish someone with beauty or surprise.
- go away empty-handed — To get nothing at all.
- hit rock bottom — To reach the lowest possible point.