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donkey's years

noun

Etymology

1876 or earlier. Possibly chosen because donkeys can be long-lived animals. Likely directly related to donkey's ears, a less frequently used rhyming slang term for years.https://wordhistories.net/2016/06/30/donkeys-years/

Definitions

  1. A long time, years and years.

    • Didn't you ask him how long it had been in his possession? I can't recollect that. I might have done so. Didn't he say for years and years and donkey's years?
    • With a heavy make-up, you’ll be the cutest vamp I’ve seen in donkey's years.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for donkey's years. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA