up to Idioms

Getting long in the tooth

Contribute an edit

Submissions are moderated and will not appear immediately.

Text

Allowed HTML: <em>, <strong>, <i>, <a href>, <p>, <ul>, <ol>, <li>, <sup>, <sub>. Links must be internal relative URLs.
Anything else, eg suggestion of category change, scientific name etc.
Photo of a horse's teeth
To be getting long in the tooth means getting old, especially when talking about a person or an animal. It can also be used to talk about machines or systems that are old and may be past their best years. The expression comes from the way a horse's teeth change as it ages. As the gums slowly recede, more of the teeth become visible, making them look longer and showing that the horse is older.

That old farm truck is getting a bit long in the tooth.