hard up
/ˌhɑːd ˈʌp
/ informal Short of money: I’m too hard up to buy fancy clothes...
- He could be very generous - lending money to hard up locals, or secretly dropping off a carton of groceries at someone's back door.
- It really worries me when relatives buy you something even though you know they are hard up.
- I have always been keen to earn money, so while I couldn't say I have ever been really hard up, it's because I have worked to make sure I'm not.
Synonyms
poor, short of money, short of cash, impoverished, impecunious, in financial difficulties, financially embarrassed, financially distressed, in reduced circumstances, in straitened circumstances, unable to make ends meet;
penniless, moneyless, destitute, poverty-stricken, bankrupt, in the red, without a sou, without means of support
informal broke, stony broke, flat broke, bust, on one's beam-ends
British informal skint, cleaned out, strapped for cash, on one's uppers, not having two pennies/farthings to rub together, in Queer Street, without a shot in one's locker, without a brass farthing
North American informal stone broke, without a red cent
See parent entry: hard