Word.ws English Dictionary

broken-down valise

broken-down valise noun: a person who has fallen on hard times; a has-been.

Noun

broken-down valise (plural broken-down valises)

  1. (US, slang, Mafia) A person who has fallen on hard times; a has-been.
    • "In the football business there are so many sleazy bums — broken-down valises, I call them — who don't have two quarters to rub together," Bloom said.1987 June 21, Bill Brubaker, “The Rise and Gall of Secret Agents Walters and Bloom”, in Washington Post, Washington, DC
    • Adam Schiff: "Abe Mercer. Ten years ago, he was a broken-down valise. Bad divorce, partners suing him, ethics review. If Doc Gooden can rise from the dead, why not Abe Mercer?"1996 September 18, René Balcer, “Causa Mortis”, in Law & Order, season 7, episode 1
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see broken down, valise.
    • Wedged into the rumble seat was my broken-down valise with everything I possessed in the world.1980, E. L. Doctorow, Loon Lake, New York: Random House, page 129

Forms of broken-down valise

pluralbroken-down valises

Origin of broken-down valise

Variant of busted valise.

Questions about broken-down valise

What does broken-down valise mean?
Broken-down valise means a person who has fallen on hard times; a has-been.
What part of speech is broken-down valise?
Broken-down valise is a noun.
What is the plural of broken-down valise?
The plural of broken-down valise is broken-down valises.

Words near broken-down valise in the dictionary

  1. broken windows theory
  2. broken with
  3. broken with tradition
  4. broken-backed
  5. broken-down
  6. broken-down valise
  7. broken-down valises
  8. broken-handed
  9. broken-heart syndrome
  10. broken-hearted
  11. broken-heartedly

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: broken-down valise (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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