deguabinao

What it means

1. 1.

   Limp, floppy, gone soft — of a person with no energy left, of a lettuce, of a plan that has lost its momentum.

2. 2.

   Of someone ill or heartbroken: drooping, visibly not right. The image is physical before it is emotional.

Examples with translations

• Tá deguabinao desde que llegó del trabajo.

  He's been like a wet rag since he got in from work.

• Esa lechuga tá deguabiná.

  That lettuce has gone limp.

Where it comes from

From guabina, a soft-bodied freshwater fish that goes slack the moment it is landed. The prefixed and suffixed form is Dominican; the fish gives Cuba and Venezuela related expressions with the same underlying image.

Other forms

Spellings and variants:

deguabiná, desguabinado