Long in the tooth
Posted by R. Berg on January 13, 2001
In Reply to: Long in the tooth posted by ESC on January 13, 2001
: : What does "long in the tooth" mean. I alwasy thought it meant ugly.
: "Long in the tooth" means old. It refers to the fact that one can determine a horse's age by looking at its teeth. A horse's gums recede as it ages causing its teeth to look "long."
And it is from this same fact that we get "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth." Two phrases explained for the price of one!
- Long in the tooth Barney 01/13/01
- Long in the tooth ESC 01/13/01
- Long in the tooth R. Berg 01/13/01
- Long in the tooth Barney 01/14/01
- Long in the tooth ESC 01/14/01
- Long in the tooth Barney 01/14/01
- The horse gum question ESC 01/22/01
- The language expert question R. Berg 01/23/01
- The language expert question Clayton 02/01/01
- The language expert question R. Berg 01/23/01
- The horse gum question ESC 01/22/01
- Long in the tooth Barney 01/14/01
- Long in the tooth RB 01/14/01
- Long in the tooth ESC 01/14/01
- Long in the tooth Barney 01/14/01
- Long in the tooth R. Berg 01/13/01
- Long in the tooth ESC 01/13/01
See: the meaning and origin of the phrase "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth".