Idiom
Hoover flag
Meaning
An empty (penniless) pocket, turned inside out, showing that someone has no money (especially during the Great Depression.)
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“He showed his empty pockets like a Hoover flag.”
“After losing his job, he turned his pockets out to show a Hoover flag to his friends.”
“The man stood on the street corner, turning his pockets inside out to display a Hoover flag as a silent testament to his poverty.”
Examples
simple
“He showed his empty pockets like a Hoover flag.”
contextual
“After losing his job, he turned his pockets out to show a Hoover flag to his friends.”
complex
“The man stood on the street corner, turning his pockets inside out to display a Hoover flag as a silent testament to his poverty.”
Origin
From Hoover (“Herbert Hoover, US president at the start of the Great Depression”) + flag.
Key words
Related idioms
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