the granddaddy of them all

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.

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
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
  • granddaddy of them all
  • daddy of them all
  • the 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 granddaddy of them all, the Survivor endurance challenge, has made it to its 33rd season.
One good TV season deserves another
Grimm's Fairy Tales are the granddaddy of them all but children in the UK have long been able to read TinTin, Pippy Longstocking, Moomin and Asterix, which have their literary roots overseas.
children's book of the week
* The granddaddy of them all, a business that started here and whose departure still gives Arkansas economic developers nightmares, is FedEx Corp., which Little Rock lost to Memphis in the 1970s.
The ones that got away
The granddaddy of them all is the Public Theater's Under the Radar festival (Jan.
A festival and its offspring
It contained four players the wrong side of 35 and that's not including the granddaddy of them all Paolo Maldini - still playing at 40 - who did not make the flight to England.
Memo to Beckham: The Dad's Army of Italy are not the force they were; UEFA CUP ACTION GROUP E
COMEDY gigs are nothing new, nor are charity concerts, but if you want to find the granddaddy of them all, look no further than this event, aimed at raising the profile of and money for Amnesty International.
HYWEL James travels to a fine food fair in London; SUNDAY
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
But the granddaddy of them all might just be Oliveto in Oakland, California (510/547-5356), where every February, the restaurant's famed Whole Hog dinner series is a dedicated celebration of all things pig.
Trend: cure-all