granddaddy

the granddaddy of them all

The biggest, oldest, most impressive, or most respected person or thing of his, her, or its kind. I own a lot of vintage cars, but my 1926 Bentley is the granddaddy of them all.
See also: all, granddaddy, of
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

daddy of them all

 and granddaddy of them all
Fig. the biggest or oldest of all; the patriarch. This old fish is the granddaddy of them all. This tree is the daddy of them all. It's been here since the place was built.
See also: all, daddy, of
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

granddaddy of them all

The first, oldest, or most respected of its kind, as in That computer is the grandaddy of them all. [Colloquial; c. 1900]
See also: all, granddaddy, of
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.

(grand)daddy (of them all)

n. the biggest or oldest of all; the patriarch. This old fish is the granddaddy of them all.
See also: all, granddaddy, of

granddaddy

verb
See granddaddy of them all

daddy of them all

verb
See granddaddy of them all
See also: all, daddy, of
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions

granddaddy of them all

The first, oldest, or greatest example of something. This colloquialism dates from about 1900 and is never applied to a person. For example, “That was the granddaddy of all hurricanes, according to the weather forecaster.” The Persian Gulf War of 1991 gave rise to a similar locution, the mother of all . . . , meaning the greatest or best of something and based on a translation from Arabic. It was first applied by Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein to a major battle (“the mother of all battles”). At this writing it has not yet supplanted granddaddy, but possibly one day it will.
See also: all, granddaddy, of
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
See also:
  • granddaddy of them all
  • the granddaddy of them all
  • the daddy of them all
  • daddy of them all
  • pillar of (something)
  • in good company
  • leading light
  • a leading light
  • be in mint condition
  • mint
References in periodicals archive
The Harbarths learned about Granddaddy on a television news report, but craning their necks to see it in person was something else entirely.
US farmer creates granddaddy of a snowman
Granddaddy had been watching from the patio where he sat spitting Redman into a plastic cup.
Granddaddy ~ a memory
As I drove Granddaddy to Florida with my Mom and best friend in tow, he refused to utter more than four words from the backseat: "Are we there yet?"
Granddaddy: A memory
Helena, Calif.--The "granddaddy of charity wine auctions" showed youthful muscle June 7, as Auction Napa Valley raised $10.4 million through 44 live lots, 128 barrel lots and 87 other lots in an e-auction.
Napa group's auction raises $10.4 million
Come visit the granddaddy of all summer food festivals.
Best festivals: from concerts to crawfish to deep-dish pizza, some of the best fun happens under the sun
Georgia Tate Johnson has led a quiet life with her Nana and Granddaddy Tate in Ripley, Mississippi.
Amateau, Gigi. Claiming Georgia Tate
The 'granddaddy' of all is the 2007 WRITER'S MARKET (1582974276, $29.99), now in its 86th annual edition.
2007 Writer's Markets
The granddaddy of all wholesale fraud systems will come if, like many politicians desire, the United States implements Internet voting.
Saving our elections: America's once proud and trustworthy elections are being undermined, but concerned citizens can take steps to restore the integrity of our electoral process
Of course, the granddaddy of them all, the 1929 stock market crash, gave us some of the most lasting--and most respected--rules and regulatory bodies, among them the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
From the editor
Granddaddy would say you had to go when the fish were biting.
A fish tail
The granddaddy is Superior Aged Vintage Cheddar, which is aged two years.
New Zealand Cheddar comes to U.S
(Lots of letters, we know, but not acronyms, as Wood might point out: Acronyms are initials that are pronounced as a word, as opposed to initialism--when you actually spell out the initials of such an abbreviation.) It was in that October issue of CW that Wood made his reappearance as wordsmith granddaddy with his new column, "Wood on Words."
An element of style: upon the retirement of longtime CW wordsmithing columnist Alden Wood, we look back on some of the words and rules we learned
Greenpeace, www.greenpeace.org/usa/campaigns/oceans, in many ways the granddaddy of nonprofits seeking to save the seas (or at least the large mammals therein) has an oceans site that concentrates on its principal concerns of commercial whaling, overfishing, and deep sea bottom trawling.
Ocean resources: in search of blue water
"It is the granddaddy of the American Amusement park.
Coney Island to reinvent itself with new draft plan
Perhaps a granddaddy to most municipal recycling programs, this one works using an incentive-based deposit system that requires an assessment of a deposit from contractors before issuance of a building permit.
CMRA Awards C&D recyclers