Dictionary

ain't what it used to was en · X

Meanings

1. (colloquial, idiomatic) Is not what it used to be; (expressing nostalgia).
   • Then Grandmother snuffled a teardrop And said. "It is jest like I suz T’ th’ parson—Grandfather’s liver Ain’t what it used to was." 1920 October 23, Ellis Parker Butler, “A Pastoral”, in Judge (a satirical magazine):
   • Your memory ain't what it used to was, my man, or what it ought to be. 1862, Albany Fonblanque, chapter XXIV, in The St. James's Magazine: Volume 5, Houlston & Wright, A Tangled Skein: A Romance, page 180:
   • With a few more years to procrastinate, as we used to say of the old gray mare, we'll be able to say of the elementary schools, "It ain't what it used to was!" 1948 December 17, The Winonan, volume XXX, number 3, Winona State Teachers College, Winona, Minn., page 2:
   • Thanksgiving 'ain't what it used to was.' 1852, Harper's New Monthly Magazine: Volume 5, Harper & Brothers, page 848: