Definition of "down-at-heel" [down-at-heel]

• Worn out from long use or neglect; dilapidated. (adjective)
• Shabbily dressed because of poverty; seedy. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "From there I'd suggest heading to Ueno, a slightly down-at-heel area, built around a park, that still has a faintly rural feel and reminds you of what Tokyo used to be when its Meiji refashioners, in the late 19th century, took their cues from London and Paris."
• "Puppets mingle with live performers – P&J are now two down-at-heel vaudevillians – as creativity is put in the dock and the show goes to Hell crocodiles and sausages still included."
• "It helped too to have a cast stuffed with big-name stars and acclaimed character actors, including Dustin Hoffman as fresh-out-of-jail gangster Chester "Ace" Bernstein, Dennis Farina as his right-hand man, Nick Nolte as a down-at-heel trainer, and Michael Gambon as Bernstein's old foe."