"bellows to mend" meaning in English

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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1859, James Crawford Ledlie Carson, The Form of the Horse, page 25",
          "text": "This constitutes the process of respiration or breathing, and on its due performance will chiefly depend the health and usefulness of the animal. A horse calling “bellows-to-mend” is fit for little.",
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        {
          "ref": "1897, R. G. Allanson-Winn, Bertram Fletcher Robinson, Boxing, page 72",
          "text": "A pause now took place, and some mutual feinting and dodging, it being 'bellows to mend' on each side.",
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      "glosses": [
        "out of breath"
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      "id": "en-bellows_to_mend-en-phrase-Q6RlrUDq",
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        [
          "out of breath",
          "out of breath"
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        "(UK, slang, obsolete) out of breath"
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  "word": "bellows to mend"
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  "lang_code": "en",
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        {
          "ref": "1859, James Crawford Ledlie Carson, The Form of the Horse, page 25",
          "text": "This constitutes the process of respiration or breathing, and on its due performance will chiefly depend the health and usefulness of the animal. A horse calling “bellows-to-mend” is fit for little.",
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        },
        {
          "ref": "1897, R. G. Allanson-Winn, Bertram Fletcher Robinson, Boxing, page 72",
          "text": "A pause now took place, and some mutual feinting and dodging, it being 'bellows to mend' on each side.",
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      "glosses": [
        "out of breath"
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        "(UK, slang, obsolete) out of breath"
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  "word": "bellows to mend"
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