"He's getting a bit long in the tooth!" Well I'm quite old, but I haven't noticed any of my teeth getting any longer; where did this expression come from?

trans991

Long in the tooth means 'elderly; old', and by extension 'past one's prime; over the hill'. The expression derives from horses, of all things. As horses age, their gums recess, which is the origin of the practice of examining a horse's teeth to determine its age (and therefore value), a sort of early version of kicking the tires. (Horse traders, like used-car salesman, are not to be trusted.) An old horse's gums will have recessed so much that the roots of the teeth are visible, thus making the teeth appear longer--hence long in the tooth to mean 'old', and hence used figuratively paralleling figurative senses of 'old' such as 'past one's prime'. Long in the tooth is first found in England in the nineteenth century, though it's likely that it was in use much earlier but never got recorded. http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19961217 Aug 18 09, 1:21 PM

moowho357

A horse's teeth continue to grow throughout their lifetime, although they do wear down; "long in the tooth" is more related to that than receding gums. http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/long-in-the-tooth.html http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/7/messages/398.html Aug 18 09, 1:28 PM