Salad days
Suggest a CorrectionMeaning
A youthful period of inexperience, enthusiasm or carefree behaviour. Usually plural and commonly preceded by a possessive. It may be affectionate or mildly self-mocking. Regional use: Origin in English drama; now international English.
Origin
Cleopatra recalls 'my salad days' in Antony and Cleopatra, written around 1606-07, immediately explaining them as a time when she was 'green in judgment'. The salad image depends on green, unripe youth rather than on prosperity or literal eating. Later writers broadened the expression so that it can nostalgically name an early, vigorous or successful phase as well as an inexperienced one.
Research Sources
Variants
- My salad days
- In one's salad days
Usage Examples
- In his salad days he accepted every expedition without checking the weather.
- The photograph dates from the band's salad days in cramped provincial clubs.
- She now laughs at the certainty she displayed in her salad days.