long in the tooth
7
7.8
- idiom
- Informal
- She decided to retire because she felt she was getting a bit long in the tooth for the demanding job.
- getting long in the tooth
- too long in the tooth
- looks long in the tooth
Examples
-
He's just a little long in the tooth.
-
At six three, 215, he fit the part well, though at thirty-eight he was a bit long in the tooth for the work.
Fiction book (1999) -
You just got a little too long in the tooth.
-
Guess you just got a little too long in the tooth.
Fiction book (1998) -
The whole band looked long in the tooth.
Blog text (10) -
Notice these are all attractive, smart, funny women who happen to be a little long in the tooth.
Fiction book (2000) -
Too long in the tooth for that rubbish, do you know what I mean?
-
It's that this particular marketing tactic is getting a bit long in the tooth.
Blog text (16) -
She's rich, but kind of long in the tooth.
Blog text (16) -
And while the Republican base is looking long in the tooth these days, our Democratic coalition is only continuing to grow.
Blog text (8)
Synonyms
∞
1.0
A person who has lived for a long time
2
7.2
Very old and from a long time ago
1
4.1
A little past middle age for people and slightly out of date for things
Antonyms
How Old
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'old' comes from an historical, horse-related metaphor (age judged by teeth) and is not compositionally derivable from the literal words 'long', 'in', 'the', 'tooth'. A B1 learner who knows the constituents would not predict the figurative sense, so the expression is idiomatic and opaque.
Etymology
Long in the tooth comes from looking at horses: as a horse gets older its tooth can look long because the gum goes down and more tooth shows. So the picture of a long tooth came to mean 'old' or 'getting past one's best' for people or things.