No spring chicken

Someone no longer young or inexperienced, often past their prime, with a hint of weariness or lost agility implied. It's a gentle jab at age or naivety's absence, using the tender youth of spring chicks as a foil, and carries a tone of wry humor or mild pity.

From 18th-century America, where farmers sold tender 'spring chickens'-young birds hatched in spring-as premium meat. By the 1830s, New England sayings flipped it to 'no spring chicken' for older, tougher fowl, then people. A 1880s newspaper quipped about a 40-year-old 'no spring chicken' bride, cementing its human use. It reflects agrarian roots and a culture noting youth's fleeting edge, growing into a playful dig at maturity.