breath and britches

Noun

breath and britches (uncountable)

1. (Southern US, figuratively) physically (implying extreme thinness) or,
   • […] San Antonio Mexicans named Cisco and Pancho, both in black-market sombreros. They were skinny—all breath and britches—and short-timers, soon to go home.1990, Lee K. Abbott, “Why I Live in Hanoi”, in Dreams of Distant Lives, New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, page 109
2. (Southern US, figuratively) in terms of character, accomplishments, etc.
   • “[…] I don’t know a blessed thing but planting. What does she expect me to do? Hire out as an overseer?”
     I would, Guy thought clearly, coldly; before I’d accept the slightest favor from anybody. But you haven’t got that, have you, Kil? Reckon you never were anything more than breath and britches.1957, Frank Yerby, chapter 22, in Fairoaks, New York: Pocket Books, published 1963, page 295
   • Man ain’t nothing but trouble, just breath and britches and trouble. Don’t let him feel all over you, now, don’t let a no-good man touch you, else he’ll big you up sho-nuff.1966, Margaret Walker, Jubilee, New York: Houghton Mifflin, published 2016, Part I, Chapter 3, p. 54
3. (Southern US, figuratively) A man of no substance.
   • “[…] Ah don’t want no trashy nigger, no breath-and-britches, lak Johnny Taylor usin’ yo’ body to wipe his foots on.”1937, Zora Neale Hurston, chapter 2, in Their Eyes Were Watching God, University of Illinois Press, published 1978, page 27