spring chickens
Naive young people
Spring chickens are young chickens, typically under ten months old, prized for their tender meat.
The term appears almost exclusively in the negative idiom no spring chicken, which describes someone who is no longer young.
The expression carries a tone of gentle mockery or self-deprecation: I'm no spring chicken, but I can still keep up with you.
Despite the singular form in the idiom, the phrase spring chickens sometimes appears when describing a group: None of us are spring chickens anymore.
- pulletsYoung female chickens
- birdsEgg-laying flying vertebrates
- young bloodFresh, energetic newcomers
- youthfulSeeming not old
- poultryBirds raised for food
adolescents · girls · fresh faced · bright eyed · vitality · innocence · energetic · beginnings · vigorous · kids · younglings · knee high · tender age · naivety · born yesterday · greenhorn · rejuvenation · novice
- high energygamma rays, cosmic rays, particle accelerator, synchrotron, neutrinos
spring chickensold-timers
Longtime participants or members
old fogies · senior citizens · elders · greybeards · codgers
spring, chicken, springs, chickens, springy, springiness, springing, sprang, sprung