salad days
3
8.2
- noun
- /ˈsæləd deɪz/
- Literature
:
días de juventud
- During my salad days, everything seemed possible and life was full of potential.
- back in my salad days
And Oh well, that was when I was in my salad days and green and judgement.
- And Oh well, that was when I was in my salad days and green and judgement.
Examples
-
The way Bardot looked in her salad days.
Fiction book (1993) -
These are the salad days.
-
Are the salad days over for President Whitmore?
-
They fear that their salad days are over.
Blog text (22) -
She and I used to hang out at the old Wish Bone Club in Hidden Valley back in my salad days.
Fiction book (2000) -
Dreamed of being a television weatherman in my salad days, maybe even one of the networks.
-
In my salad days, I was a computer engineer—once I left philosophy and Scotland behind me.
Fiction book (1991) -
I remember my salad days filled with carefree adventures and youthful enthusiasm.
-
Looking back, I cherish the memories of my salad days when I was so full of life.
Synonyms
104
1.1
The state of being young and full of energy
31
5.8
A time when someone or something is most successful
16
3.2
A time when a person or thing is at its best
1
6.3
A time when a young person looks and feels their best
Antonyms
How Youthful
Surface Forms
Morphology
salad + day
The meaning 'a period of youthful inexperience or peak vitality' is idiomatic and historically rooted (Shakespearean), and cannot be predicted from the literal constituents 'salad' and 'days'. A B1 learner who knows the words 'salad' and 'day' would not infer this figurative sense, so the expression is language-specific and unpredictable.
Etymology
Salad days comes from Shakespeare, where salad stood for being green and fresh, like someone 'green in judgment' who was young and inexperienced. So today salad days means the time of youth when a person is fresh, lively, or at their best.