no spring chicken

English

Etymology

From the description of a young person as a spring chicken.

Noun

no spring chicken (uncountable)

  1. (informal, litotes) Said of a person who is no longer particularly young.
    They expect me to carry this box myself while climbing the stairs to the seventh floor? I don't know about that — I'm no spring chicken.
    • 1908, Upton Sinclair, chapter 5, in The Money Changers:
      You know the world. You are no spring chicken.
    • 1943 May 10, “The Pot Boils”, in Time:
      A real candidate arose to challenge dapper Robert Rice ("Buncombe Bob") Reynolds, aging coxcomb of the Senate. The candidate, no spring chicken himself: tall, lean Clyde Roark Hoey (pronounced Hooey), 65, one of the most popular Governors the state ever had.
    • 1981 November 23, “Newest Sub, Oldest Sailor”, in Time:
      He doubtless hoped for a sympathetic ruling from President Reagan, at 70 no spring chicken himself.

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See also

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