bellows to mend
English
Phrase
- (Britain, slang, obsolete) out of breath
- 1859, James Crawford Ledlie Carson, The Form of the Horse (page 25)
- This constitutes the process of respiration or breathing, and on its due performance will chiefly depend the health and usefulness of the animal. A horse calling “bellows-to-mend” is fit for little.
- 1897, R. G. Allanson-Winn, Bertram Fletcher Robinson, Boxing (page 72)
- A pause now took place, and some mutual feinting and dodging, it being 'bellows to mend' on each side.
- 1859, James Crawford Ledlie Carson, The Form of the Horse (page 25)
References
- 1873, John Camden Hotten, The Slang Dictionary
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