dry behind the ears

dry behind the ears

English

Pronunciation

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Adjective

dry behind the ears

1. (idiomatic) Seasoned or experienced; mature, especially with respect to judgment.
   • 1850, Springfield Rep., (Whig.), Daily (Columbus) Ohio Statesman, 9 May, p. 3, col. 4:

     Why, you irreclaimable donkey, don’t you know the “notice” was an advertisement? When will you get dry behind the ears?

   • 1910, Jack London, chapter 3, in Burning Daylight:

     When you fellers was his age, you wa'n't dry behind the ears yet. He never was no kid. He was born a full-grown man.

   • 1914, Edgar Rice Burroughs, chapter 6, in The Mucker‎, All-Story Cavalier Weekly:

     "You're past twenty-one," he said, "an' dry behind the ears."

   • 1939, John Steinbeck, chapter 10, in The Grapes of Wrath:

     ”When you bastards get dry behin' the ears, you'll maybe learn to let a ol' fella sleep."

   • 2001, William Safire, "Essay: Advance The Story," New York Times, 22 Oct. (retrieved 5 Oct 2010):

     That wearing of blinders by our intelligence agents was recently revealed by The Washington Post's columnist and editor Jim Hoagland, who is dry behind the ears, to say the least.

Antonyms

• wet behind the ears