spring chicken
English edit
Etymology edit
From spring + chicken. First appears c. 1765 in The Public Advertiser.
Noun edit
spring chicken (plural spring chickens)
- (cooking) A chicken for eating while it is still young.
- (informal, chiefly in negative constructions) A person who is still young.
- 2014, William Friedman, Hearts and Minds, page 64:
- It is a special day for you indeed, for both of us, bodies incorporeal, receptive always to life's joys appreciative in any way I can, you like to remind me were both getting old; I'd remind you that, at fifty-five, you're still a spring chicken.