old times
53
3.4
- noun
:
viejos tiempos
- After so many years, meeting again felt like old times, filled with laughter and shared memories.
- good old times
It's kind of a throwback from older times.
- It's kind of a throwback from older times.
- Where, for example, with telescopes, we are able to collect way more data every hour than grad student can just pour over like in the old times, right?
- Just about old times, you know, could we get it back together?
Examples
-
Then Lucille and I could run off to the woods, leaving them to talk of old times and make sandwiches for lunch and show each other snapshots.
-
Yeah, just like old times, boys gotta relax.
-
Those are the good old times, the good the good old times.
-
To old times, my friend.
-
You know, for old times' sake.
-
We yakked about old times, and she asked questions about all "the girls."
Fiction book (2000) -
Others, especially the elderly, look back nostalgically to the security of the old times.
Academic text (1998) -
We stood cramped and sticky in a dark corner, swilling beers and talking about old times.
Fiction book (1998) -
Sitting around the fire, we shared stories and reminisced about old times when we would camp together every summer.
-
As we flipped through the photo album, we couldn't help but smile at the memories of old times spent with friends.
Synonyms
215
2.1
A time in the past you remember with warm feelings
49
4.1
A past time people remember as happier or simpler
14
8.3
An earlier time people remember as better
4
9.9
The distant past remembered with warm feelings
4
9.9
A time long ago often remembered in stories
Old times that people remember with a warm feeling, often at New Year
Antonyms
How Old
53
3.4
∞
1.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'the past' or 'past times' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'old' (prior/former) with 'times' (periods or eras); the nostalgic nuance is a common pragmatic extension but the core referent is predictable. This compositional pattern is cross-linguistically common, so an average B1 learner who knows both words will understand the MWE.
Etymology
Old times brings to mind earlier days, like old photos or grandparents telling stories. Because old means aged and times means periods in life, people use old times to talk about 'the past' they remember with warmth.