bellows to mend

English

Phrase

bellows to mend

  1. (UK, slang, obsolete) out of breath
    • 1859, James Crawford Ledlie Carson, The Form of the Horse, page 25:
      This constitutes the process of respiration or breathing, and on its due performance will chiefly depend the health and usefulness of the animal. A horse calling “bellows-to-mend” is fit for little.
    • 1897, R. G. Allanson-Winn, Bertram Fletcher Robinson, Boxing, page 72:
      A pause now took place, and some mutual feinting and dodging, it being 'bellows to mend' on each side.

References
  • John Camden Hotten (1873) The Slang Dictionary
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