on one's last legs

English

Pronunciation

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Prepositional phrase

on one's last legs

1. (idiomatic) About to die.
   • 1824, Sir Walter Scott, chapter 6, in St. Ronan's Well:

     [A] friend who assists me with a view to future profit . . . lies like the fox's scent when on his last legs, increasing every moment.

   • 1913, Jack London, chapter 6, in The Valley of the Moon:

     He is on his last legs. His kidneys are 'most gone. Remember, 'tis I must bury him.

2. (idiomatic, by extension) About to lose viability or become defunct.

   My computer's on its last legs; it crashes running Minesweeper.

   • 1905, Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Beach of Falesa”, in Island Nights' Entertainments:

     [T]he wood was main dark, but had a kind of a low glow in it like a fire on its last legs.

Translations

about to die

• Azerbaijani: son nəfəsini çəkmək, son günlərini yaşamaq, qulağının dibi saralmaq, bir ayağı burda, bir ayağı gorda, vot-votda olmaq (colloquial, North Azerbaijani)
• Burmese: ယဲ့ယဲ့ (my) (yai.yai.)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 奄奄一息 (zh) (jim1 jim1 jat1 sik1)

  Hokkien: 奄奄一息 (iám-iám-it-sek / am-am-it-sek)

  Mandarin: 奄奄一息 (zh) (yǎnyǎnyīxī, yānyānyīxí)

• Czech: v posledním tažení
• Dutch: op je tandvlees lopen, op sterven na dood (nl)
• Finnish: haudan partaalla (fi); (verb) vedellä viimeisiään
• French: au bout du rouleau (fr), à bout de souffle (fr)
• German: in den letzten Zügen (de); (verb) aus dem letzten Loch pfeifen (de)
• Hungarian: az utolsókat rúgja, a végét járja
• Italian: agli sgoccioli, alla frutta (literally “at the fruit”), alla fine (literally “at the end”), in fin di vita (literally “at the end of life”), allo stremo delle forze, in ginocchio (literally “on [one's] knee”)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: synge på siste vers (no) (literally “to be singing the final verse”), synge sin svanesang (no)

  Nynorsk: synge på siste vers (literally “to be singing the final verse”), synge sin svanesang

• Polish: na ostatnich nogach (pl)
• Portuguese: nas últimas (pt), mais para lá do que para cá (literally “more over there than over here”)
• Russian: на после́днем издыха́нии (ru) (na poslédnem izdyxánii)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: на крају снага, на издисају

  Roman: na kraju snaga, na izdisaju

• Spanish: en las últimas, con la candela en la mano (literally “holding the candle”) (dated, colloquial), acabársele la candela (dated, colloquial)
• Swedish: sjunga på sista versen (sv) (literally “to be singing the final verse”)

See also

• not have a leg to stand on
• have seen one's last gum tree