Word.ws English Dictionary

busted valise

busted valise noun: a person who has run out of money.

Noun

busted valise (plural busted valises)

  1. (US, slang) A person who has run out of money
    • The sources described the natty Pomeranz as a fast talker but "a phony" and "a real busted valise" whose checks had a strong elastic snap to them.1962 July 26, Edward Kirkman, Henry Lee, “DA Fears Gang's X Will Mark The Spot For Mr. X's Rubout”, in Daily News, New York, page 4
    • "Two bucks! He asks me for two bucks! Sonny, I'm a busted valise."1964 October 24, Gilbert Rogin, “At the Sea-Vue Arms”, in New Yorker, New York, page 63
  2. (US, slang) A person who has lost power or abilities; a has-been
    • They appear to be a vast improvement over the busted valises who were hired for so many jobs by Abe Beame.1978 January 4, Pete Hamill, “Dear Ed: Take the Bronx and Staten Island, Too”, in Daily News, New York, page 4

Forms of busted valise

pluralbusted valises

Questions about busted valise

What does busted valise mean?
Busted valise means a person who has run out of money.
What part of speech is busted valise?
Busted valise is a noun.
What is the plural of busted valise?
The plural of busted valise is busted valises.

Words near busted valise in the dictionary

  1. busted pilots
  2. busted someone's agates
  3. busted someone's ass
  4. busted the dust
  5. busted up
  6. busted valise
  7. busted valises
  8. bustee
  9. bustees
  10. buster
  11. Buster Brown

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: busted 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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