all the worse for wear

all the worse for wear

Shabby or beat-up from use. People sometimes use this phrase to describe themselves after enduring something emotionally or physically taxing. The books that were in my bag when I got caught in the downpour look all the worse for wear now. I'm afraid they might fall apart altogether! The nights of sleep deprivation with a newborn have left me all the worse for wear—I could fall asleep standing up!
See also: all, wear, worse
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
See also:
  • be all the worse for wear
  • the worse for wear
  • worse for wear
  • bear the burden (of something)
  • burden
  • soldier
  • blow this/that for a game of soldiers
References in classic literature
The partners from Montreal, however, were the lords of the ascendant; coming from the midst of luxurious and ostentatious life, they quite eclipsed their compeers from the woods, whose forms and faces had been battered and hardened by hard living and hard service, and whose garments and equipments were all the worse for wear. Indeed, the partners from below considered the whole dignity of the company as represented in their persons, and conducted themselves in suitable style.
Astoria or Anecdotes of an enterprise beyond the Rocky Mountain