"long in the tooth" meaning in English

See long in the tooth in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adjective

Audio: en-us-long in the tooth.ogg , en-au-long in the tooth.ogg
Etymology: Possibly from the practice of examining the length of horses’ teeth when estimating their ages: an old horse has long, rectangular incisors, and their occlusion angle is steep. Compare don't look a gift horse in the mouth. Head templates: {{head|en|adjective}} long in the tooth
  1. (idiomatic) Old; aged. Tags: idiomatic Synonyms: on in years, over the hill, wizened, elderly Related terms: don't look a gift horse in the mouth, make old bones Translations (old, aged): vell (Catalan), vanha (Finnish), iäkäs (Finnish), vanhanaikainen (Finnish), blanchir sous le harnais (French), défraîchi (French), alt (German), in die Jahre gekommen (German), benne van a korban (Hungarian), sbiadito (Italian), antiquato (Italian), in là con gli anni (Italian), stary (Polish), antiquado (Portuguese), ultrapassado (Portuguese), velhote [person] (Portuguese), velhusco [person] (Portuguese), entradote [Portugal, colloquial] (Portuguese), ста́рый (stáryj) (Russian), пожило́й (požilój) [humorous] (Russian), песо́к сыплется (pesók sypletsja) [colloquial] (Russian), rancio (Spanish), ajado (Spanish)
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          "ref": "1852, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 2, in The History of Henry Esmond, Esq.:",
          "text": "His cousin was now of more than middle age. . . . She was lean, and yellow, and long in the tooth.",
          "type": "quote"
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          "ref": "2004 May 10, Chris Taylor, “Is Microsoft A Slowpoke?”, in Time, archived from the original on 2008-04-06:",
          "text": "So as Microsoft began its 30th year last month, investors wondered whether it's a little long in the tooth.",
          "type": "quote"
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          "ref": "2019 March 13, Drachinifel, 10:25 from the start, in The Russian 2nd Pacific Squadron - Voyage of the Damned, archived from the original on 2022-12-16:",
          "text": "There were four relatively-fast, modern cruisers, the Oleg, Aurora, Zhemchug, and Izumrud... aaand the Dmitrii Donskoi, which was twenty-one years old and getting a bit long in the tooth.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
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          "ref": "2024, Jeremy B. Rudd, A Practical Guide to Macroeconomics, page 47:",
          "text": "For those who are interested, Deaton (1992) remains the best (and most readable) single introduction to the empirics of the canonical permanent income model, though it's now a bit long in the tooth.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
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        "(idiomatic) Old; aged."
      ],
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        {
          "word": "don't look a gift horse in the mouth"
        },
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          "word": "make old bones"
        }
      ],
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        {
          "word": "on in years"
        },
        {
          "word": "over the hill"
        },
        {
          "word": "wizened"
        },
        {
          "word": "elderly"
        }
      ],
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      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "ca",
          "lang": "Catalan",
          "sense": "old, aged",
          "word": "vell"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "old, aged",
          "word": "vanha"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "old, aged",
          "word": "iäkäs"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "old, aged",
          "word": "vanhanaikainen"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "old, aged",
          "word": "blanchir sous le harnais"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "old, aged",
          "word": "défraîchi"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "old, aged",
          "word": "alt"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "old, aged",
          "word": "in die Jahre gekommen"
        },
        {
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "old, aged",
          "word": "benne van a korban"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "old, aged",
          "word": "sbiadito"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "old, aged",
          "word": "antiquato"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "old, aged",
          "word": "in là con gli anni"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "old, aged",
          "word": "stary"
        },
        {
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "old, aged",
          "word": "antiquado"
        },
        {
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "old, aged",
          "word": "ultrapassado"
        },
        {
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "old, aged",
          "tags": [
            "person"
          ],
          "word": "velhote"
        },
        {
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "old, aged",
          "tags": [
            "person"
          ],
          "word": "velhusco"
        },
        {
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "old, aged",
          "tags": [
            "Portugal",
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          "word": "entradote"
        },
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          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "stáryj",
          "sense": "old, aged",
          "word": "ста́рый"
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          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "požilój",
          "sense": "old, aged",
          "tags": [
            "humorous"
          ],
          "word": "пожило́й"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "pesók sypletsja",
          "sense": "old, aged",
          "tags": [
            "colloquial"
          ],
          "word": "песо́к сыплется"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "old, aged",
          "word": "rancio"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "old, aged",
          "word": "ajado"
        }
      ]
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      "word": "make old bones"
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    {
      "word": "on in years"
    },
    {
      "word": "over the hill"
    },
    {
      "word": "wizened"
    },
    {
      "word": "elderly"
    }
  ],
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    {
      "code": "ca",
      "lang": "Catalan",
      "sense": "old, aged",
      "word": "vell"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "old, aged",
      "word": "vanha"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "old, aged",
      "word": "iäkäs"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "old, aged",
      "word": "vanhanaikainen"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "old, aged",
      "word": "blanchir sous le harnais"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "old, aged",
      "word": "défraîchi"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "old, aged",
      "word": "alt"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "old, aged",
      "word": "in die Jahre gekommen"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "old, aged",
      "word": "benne van a korban"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "old, aged",
      "word": "sbiadito"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "old, aged",
      "word": "antiquato"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "old, aged",
      "word": "in là con gli anni"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "old, aged",
      "word": "stary"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "old, aged",
      "word": "antiquado"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "old, aged",
      "word": "ultrapassado"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "old, aged",
      "tags": [
        "person"
      ],
      "word": "velhote"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "old, aged",
      "tags": [
        "person"
      ],
      "word": "velhusco"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "old, aged",
      "tags": [
        "Portugal",
        "colloquial"
      ],
      "word": "entradote"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "stáryj",
      "sense": "old, aged",
      "word": "ста́рый"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "požilój",
      "sense": "old, aged",
      "tags": [
        "humorous"
      ],
      "word": "пожило́й"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "pesók sypletsja",
      "sense": "old, aged",
      "tags": [
        "colloquial"
      ],
      "word": "песо́к сыплется"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "old, aged",
      "word": "rancio"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "old, aged",
      "word": "ajado"
    }
  ],
  "word": "long in the tooth"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-21 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (d8cb2f3 and 4e554ae). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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