Please explain

[siriusly]

а денег хоть шаром покати = and not an hour richer

Please explain this translation. It is from Charles Dickens "A Christmas Carol".

Thanks

[alys]

хоть шаром покати - old idiom - means empty, nothing.
i think it is from billiard. to roll balls = to play billiard.
so - there is so empty, that you could roll balls there.(ball rolls fine on empty space)
it should be translated to english also as idiom for "nothing".