long in the tooth
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
But those long in the tooth in analysing IRA intentions well know that what is threatened in their terrorist statements is not necessarily what is planned to happen in the days ahead.
So all, all the A class judges are getting a little bit long in the tooth now
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Figurative class: Metaphor (PIE-English corpus, CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31).
Common questions
What does “long in the tooth” mean?
Rather old.
Is “long in the tooth” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.