Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. impoverished, poor.

1851		Oregon Statesman 7 Oct. 2/6: We blame the picayune editor most for taking advantage of their ‘strapped’ condition to cut down their wages [DA].
1855		‘Prospecting Dream’ in Lingenfelter et al. Songs of the Amer. West (1968) 93: I was strapp’d, had not a cent.
1864		letter q. in Wiley Life of Billy Yank (1952) 291: Strapped for money, got the blues like an old maid.
1878		F.H. Hart Sazerac Lying Club 77: I was strapped as flat as a shingle.
1889		S. Bailey Ups and Downs of a Crook’s Life 42: He said he was strapped, and I loaned him $5.
1892		W. Norr Stories of Chinatown 39: We got pretty well strapped in ’Frisco, down to a couple of hundred.
1904		Phila. Inquirer 22 May part II 3/5–6: ‘Cush’ and ‘kick’ are concomitants. No one in these wise days of the twentieth century ever has money in his pocket. Instead, he has ‘cush’ in his ‘kick,’ or if he be strapped, he has no ‘cush’ in his ‘kick’.
1910		O. Johnson Varmint 217: There was a slick coot by the name of Chops Van Dyne, who got strapped and hit upon a scheme for decoying the shekels.
1924		G. Henderson Keys to Crookdom 407: Hipped. Without funds, strapped, broke.
1936		J.T. Farrell World I Never Made 76: I found myself strapped for ready cash.
1937		C. Himes ‘A Nigger’ in Coll. Stories (1990) 30: I stopped by to leave you enough money so you won’t be strapped.
1940		W.R. Burnett High Sierra in Four Novels (1984) 418: Good thing I bent over and picked up that roll [...] We’d be strapped.
1953		R. Chandler Long Good-Bye 65: You’re cheap all over. You pal around with a guy, eat a few drinks, talk a few gags, slip him a little dough when he’s strapped, and you’re sold out to him.
1960		P. Rabe My Lovely Executioner (2006) 74: I’m strapped. I can’t even tell you when, or how, I’ll pay you back.
1971		B. Moyers Listening to America 172: The very strapped – people on welfare.
1982		N. Keesing Lily on the Dustbin 21: By the end of the week many a mother is ‘strapped for cash’ or without a ‘brass razoo’.
1989		R. Atkinson Long Gray Line (1990) 114: They were always strapped for cash.
1993		G. Disher Deathdeal [ebook] ‘I’m a bit strapped for cash’.
1997		G.V. Higgins Change of Gravity [ebook] ‘[S]ome kind of a financial emergency. What you and I would call ‘strapped for cash’.
1999		Guardian Saturday Rev. 5 June 6: If you are really strapped for cash, it is quite acceptable to hold the reception in a scout hut.
2000		Guardian Rev. 15 Jan. 8: A cash-strapped state school in Evans, Georgia.
2010		(con. 1973) C. Stella Johnny Porno 109: The boy loves his father and his father is strapped for cash.
2012		R. Milward Kimberly’s Capital Punishment (2023) 85: We’re totally strapped.
2019		Dly Sentinel (Grand Junction, CO) 14 Mar. 4/1: The economy ebbs and flows [...] this city is strapped for cash.
2020		S.A. Crosby Blacktop Wasteland 89: ‘I wish I could give you something. I’m just so strapped right now’.

2. in non-monetary contexts, e.g. strapped for time.

1991		R.G. Barratt ‘I’m Pulling for Ya, Pee Wee’ in What Do You Reckon (1997) [ebook] [H]e was strapped for a sense of humour.
2001		K. Sampson Outlaws (ms.) 56: We’re not exactly strapped for time, not yet.
2007		S. Maloney Sucked In 154: He tapped a toe, time-strapped.
2012		C. Stella Rough Riders 205: We’re kind of strapped here for manpower, sir.