ripe old age

ripe old age

A very old age. Even at the ripe old age of 90, my grandmother still loves to go shopping. All I want at the end of my life is to die at a ripe old age surrounded by my family.
See also: age, old, ripe
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

ripe old age

a very old age. Mr. Smith died last night, but he lived to a ripe old age—99. All the Smiths seem to reach a ripe old age.
See also: age, old, ripe
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

ripe old age

An age advanced in years, as in I expect to live to a ripe old age. The adjective ripe here means "fully developed physically and mentally," but the current use of the idiom usually just signifies a long lifespan. [Second half of 1300s]
See also: age, old, ripe
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.

ripe old age

Advanced in years, quite old. This expression is itself of a ripe old age—it dates from the second half of the fourteenth century—and is generally used in a positive, admiring sense.W. Somerset Maugham used it in Creatures of Circumstance (1947): “. . . little house in the country where he could potter about till death claimed him at a ripe old age.”
See also: age, old, ripe
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
See also:
  • ripe
  • at a/the ripe old age
  • at/to a ripe old age
  • to a/the ripe old age
  • live to a ripe old age
  • the grand old age of
  • a/the grand old age
  • a grand old age
  • of age
  • live to the age of
References in classic literature
"If thou followest these precepts and rules, Sancho, thy days will be long, thy fame eternal, thy reward abundant, thy felicity unutterable; thou wilt marry thy children as thou wouldst; they and thy grandchildren will bear titles; thou wilt live in peace and concord with all men; and, when life draws to a close, death will come to thee in calm and ripe old age, and the light and loving hands of thy great-grandchildren will close thine eyes.
Don Quixote
No doubt Henry would pardon her outburst, and go on blustering and muddling into a ripe old age. But what was the good?
Howards End
At the ripe old age of seventy-two he was climbing around a corner of a lofty precipice of the Pic du Midi--nobody with him--when he slipped and fell.
Tramp Abroad
"He might have lived to a ripe old age if he'd stayed at home," Henry agreed.
White Fang
since the sad news of the icon's passing at the ripe old age of 97.
Playlist
MEDICAL students in the US have discovered that a woman who lived to the ripe old age of 99 had all her internal organs - except for her heart - in the wrong place.
Rose was a 'medical marvel'
LIVERPOOL'S European Cup goalscoring hero Alan Kennedy is back playing for England at the ripe old age of 64.
BARNEY TO WALK TALL
For 35 years he kept a well-known hostelry in Meriden Street, but had retired from business before he died at the ripe old age of 79.
Death of a famous city bull-baiter
'If you are lucky and you don't get any diseases like cancer, you get a chance to live to a ripe old age, but you hasten the process if you don't use the body,' he said.
Use it or lose it, Dr M tells seniors
The world's oldest known spider has died at the ripe old age of 43 after being monitored for years during a long-term population study in Australia, researchers said Monday.
World's oldest known spider dies in Australia -- of wasp sting
People living in Dorset are more likely to live to 75 than anyone else in the UK, with 78% of men and 86% of women reaching that ripe old age. Mancunians, however, have the worst lot, with only 52% of men reaching 75.
SECRETS OF A HAPPY LIFE Move to Dorset
20 Number of Australian Open campaigns for Roger Federer, who is favourite to win Down Under at the ripe old age of 36.
the numbers game
ISLAMABAD -- TOKYO: An elderly penguin who shot to fame in Japan after falling in love with a cardboard cut-out of a cartoon character has died, at the ripe old age of 21.
Japan zoo mourns death of love-struck penguin
While I did it at the ripe old age of 10 (Daisy, of course, which I wore out), now at age 70 I still own a bunch.
Hunting & airguns
But scientists have now declared the tree dead at the ripe old age of about 600.
End of an ancient oak