Meaning
Old or getting old, especially of a person, and often said with mild humor or bluntness. It is also applied jokingly to things that are past their best, such as aging technology or dated ideas. Informal and gently humorous, but can sound rude or ageist when said directly about someone. Regional use: General English.
Origin
The image comes from judging a horse's age by its teeth: as a horse ages its gums recede, making the teeth appear longer. Similar Latin phrases existed as far back as the 16th century, but the long gap before the first English citation suggests the English phrase was coined independently. The Phrase Finder traces the earliest known English use to 1852, in Thackeray's novel The History of Henry Esmond ('She was lean, and yellow, and long in the tooth'). Dictionary.com likewise dates the idiom to the mid-1800s. Widespread figurative use of people and things developed through the 20th century.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- a bit long in the tooth
- getting long in the tooth
- somewhat long in the tooth
Usage Examples
- I'm getting a bit long in the tooth for all-night gaming sessions, but I still try now and then.
- The conference laptop was so long in the tooth that it struggled to open a slideshow.
- She joked that she was long in the tooth to be starting a rock band, then formed one anyway.