Green’s Dictionary of Slang

out of funds, impoverished, pron. ‘brassic’.

a.1945		L. Payne private coll. n.p.: Skint Boracic Lint.
1959		F. Norman Fings II i: I may have been boracic lint, but I was still alive.
1969		S.T. Kendall Up the Frog 12: Lend us ’arf an Oxford scholar, I’m boracic lint.
1976		(ref. to 1940s) R. Barnes Coronation Cups and Jam Jars 114: Dad was always boracic, now his betting job had gone.
1981		A. Payne ‘You Need Hands’ Minder [TV script] 21: If you’re ever a bit on the boracic side, your credit’s good down here.
1986		C. Bowles G’DAY 1: Shane is a dole bludger. He's always boracic. Mr Foster reckons he's a deadhead and he wouldn't work in an iron lung.
1989		P. Manning ‘Sl.’ in Kray (1989) 62: And when you are brassic that’s when you’re skint.
1993		I. Welsh Trainspotting 99: Ye’ll need tae gie us a bung though, Gav. Ah’m fuckin brassic. [Ibid.] 120: Once they suss out that you’re brassic lint, they sortay drift away.
1996		J. Cameron It Was An Accident 4: Fucking roll on George I reckon I might be brassick only I ain’t a fucking grass yet.
2000		Chinoodle at Everything2.com 4 Jul. 🌐 Brass Lack of money. [...] ‘Can’t make it tonight man, I’m brass.’.
2000		J.J. Connolly Layer Cake 49: Apparently a lot of the so-called aristocrats in this country are boracic.
2000		N. Griffiths Grits 94: Ee’s flush like, which is fine by me cos I’m fuckin brassic.
2011		J.J. Connolly Viva La Madness 362: Being boracic is hard to stomach after watching millions go through his muckies over the years.
2012		(con. 1980s) I. Welsh Skagboys 141: So how’s you? [...] —Totally brassic n aw.
2024		Observer 28 July 🌐 [headline] Why Rachel Reeves wants everyone to know that the Tories left the Treasury brassic.