what does " he's a bit long in the tooth"?

Answer 1

Means that he's old.

Answer 2

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.

Answer 3

Horses get longer teeth as they age. So it means old. The expression "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth" come from the same idea. It means if someone gives you something don't be critical of it.

Answer 4

Phrase derives from the days of yore, when horses were checked in the teeth. The longer the tooth the older the horse, hence, bit long in the tooth

Answer 5

It means "old." Horses' teeth get longer with age, that's where that saying comes from.

Answer 6

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RE:
what does " he's a bit long in the tooth"?

Answer 7

that datesay back to the beaver trapers time.
a beavers teath cotinue to grow through its life as do rabits.
so if the critter is so old that it can not chew hard wood and wear its teeth down the teath grow long.
thusle the trapers would refer to somone that was old as being long in the tooth.

Answer 8

Wow! thank you! exactly what I was looking for. I looked for the answers on the internet but I couldn't find them.

Answer 9

It means he's old.

Answer 10

old and unkempt. long in the tooth literally means when a person has receding gums from gum disease