Dictionary

dry behind the ears en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Meanings

1. (idiomatic) Seasoned or experienced; mature, especially with respect to judgment.
   • Why, you irreclaimable donkey, don’t you know the “notice” was an advertisement? When will you get dry behind the ears? 1850, Springfield Rep., (Whig.), Daily (Columbus) Ohio Statesman, 9 May, p. 3, col. 4
   • 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. 2001 October 22, William Safire, “Essay: Advance The Story”, in New York Times, retrieved 05 Oct 2010:
   • "You're past twenty-one," he said, "an' dry behind the ears." 1914 October – 1916 July, Edgar Rice Burroughs, chapter 6, in The Mucker, Chicago, Ill.: A[lexander] C[aldwell] McClurg & Co., published 31 October 1921, →OCLC:
   • ”When you bastards get dry behin' the ears, you'll maybe learn to let a ol' fella sleep." 1939, John Steinbeck, chapter 10, in The Grapes of Wrath:
   • 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. 1910, Jack London, chapter 3, in Burning Daylight:

Antonyms

wet behind the ears