"on in years" meaning in English

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "more on in years",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most on in years",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-",
        "2": "more",
        "head": "on in years"
      },
      "expansion": "on in years (not generally comparable, comparative more on in years, superlative most on in years)",
      "name": "en-adj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English euphemisms",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Age",
          "orig": "en:Age",
          "parents": [
            "Human",
            "Time",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1853, Charles Dickens, The Schoolboy's Story:",
          "text": "Being rather young at present—I am getting on in years, but still I am rather young—I have no particular adventures of my own to fall back upon.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1893, William Butler Yeats, “An Enduring Heart”, in The Celtic Twilight:",
          "text": "More years went by, and his wife was dead, and he well on in years.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1905, George Bernard Shaw, Major Barbara, act 3:",
          "text": "I am getting on in years; and my partner Lazarus has at last made a stand and insisted that the succession must be settled.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1909, F. Marion Crawford, chapter 20, in A Roman Singer:",
          "text": "[O]ld as I am,—I do not mean aged, but well on in years,—I believe in love still.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2004 May 24, Alice Park, “Health: Old Bones, New Hope”, in Time:",
          "text": "Brittle bones can be more than just a bother for anyone who is getting on in years.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Old; advanced in age."
      ],
      "id": "en-on_in_years-en-adj-Ab49nKiJ",
      "links": [
        [
          "Old",
          "old"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, mildly euphemistic) Old; advanced in age."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "elderly"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "euphemistic",
        "idiomatic",
        "mildly",
        "not-comparable",
        "usually"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-on in years.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/1a/En-au-on_in_years.ogg/En-au-on_in_years.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1a/En-au-on_in_years.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "on in years"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "more on in years",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most on in years",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-",
        "2": "more",
        "head": "on in years"
      },
      "expansion": "on in years (not generally comparable, comparative more on in years, superlative most on in years)",
      "name": "en-adj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English adjectives",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English euphemisms",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned",
        "en:Age"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1853, Charles Dickens, The Schoolboy's Story:",
          "text": "Being rather young at present—I am getting on in years, but still I am rather young—I have no particular adventures of my own to fall back upon.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1893, William Butler Yeats, “An Enduring Heart”, in The Celtic Twilight:",
          "text": "More years went by, and his wife was dead, and he well on in years.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1905, George Bernard Shaw, Major Barbara, act 3:",
          "text": "I am getting on in years; and my partner Lazarus has at last made a stand and insisted that the succession must be settled.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1909, F. Marion Crawford, chapter 20, in A Roman Singer:",
          "text": "[O]ld as I am,—I do not mean aged, but well on in years,—I believe in love still.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2004 May 24, Alice Park, “Health: Old Bones, New Hope”, in Time:",
          "text": "Brittle bones can be more than just a bother for anyone who is getting on in years.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Old; advanced in age."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Old",
          "old"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, mildly euphemistic) Old; advanced in age."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "euphemistic",
        "idiomatic",
        "mildly",
        "not-comparable",
        "usually"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-on in years.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/1a/En-au-on_in_years.ogg/En-au-on_in_years.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1a/En-au-on_in_years.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "elderly"
    }
  ],
  "word": "on in years"
}