Word.ws English Dictionary

auld lang syne

UK/ˌɔːld læŋ ˈsaɪn/US/ˌɔl(d)læŋ ˈsaɪn/

auld lang syne noun: days gone by; former times.

Noun

auld lang syne (uncountable)

  1. (idiomatic) Days gone by; former times.
    • Is thy ſweet Heart now grown ſo cold, / that loving Breaſt of thine; / That thou canſt never once reflect / on Old long ſyne. / [Chorus] On Old long ſyne my Jo, / on Old long ſyne, / That thou canſt never once reflect, / on Old long ſyne.[[1701?], An Excellent and Proper New Ballad, Entituled, Old Long Syne, […] (facsimile of broadside), [Edinburgh]: [s.n.; reproduced on The Word on the Street, National Library of Scotland]...
    • Should auld acquaintance be forgot / And never brought to mind? / Should auld acquaintance be forgot, / And auld lang syne! / [Chorus] For auld lang syne my jo, / For auld lang syne, / We'll tak a cup of o' kindness yet for auld lang syne.1788, Robert Burns, “[No. 413] Auld Lang Syne”, in James Johnson, compiler, The Scots Musical Museum: In Six Volumes. […], volume V, Edinburgh: Printed & sold by James Johnson music seller […]...

Examples of auld lang syne in a sentence

  • If I’ve been any help to you—well, we’ll say it’s for ‘auld lang syne’.”1922 December, Harold Avery, “A Sixth Form Feud. A Public School Story.”, in The Boy’s Own Paper, volume XLV, part 2, London: "Boy's Own...
  • It is in ‘auld lang syne’ that we who are dead find our full despotic kingdom at last—that oneness of sway that even the truest, sweetest love can never assure us of while living.1928 March 3, Percy Grainger, “Mother”, in Malcolm Gillies, David Pear, Mark Carroll, editors, Self-portrait of Percy Grainger, New York...
  • He had to win Harper's respect on his own terms, on hers, even if that meant they were never more than old friends saying farewell for auld lang syne.2017 December, Karen Weisner, chapter 10, in For Auld Lang Syne (Adventures in Amethyst Series; 8), [Morrisville, N.C.]: Lulu, →ISBN, page...

Forms of auld lang syne

alternative formold lang syne
alternative formold long syne

Origin of auld lang syne

From Scots auld lang syne (“old long ago”, literally “old long since”), popularized by the poem “Auld Lang Syne” (1788) by Scottish poet and lyricist Robert Burns (1759–1796) based on an older song.

Words formed from auld lang syne

  • for old lang syne

Questions about auld lang syne

What does auld lang syne mean?
Auld lang syne means days gone by; former times.
How do you use auld lang syne in a sentence?
If I’ve been any help to you—well, we’ll say it’s for ‘auld lang syne’.”
What part of speech is auld lang syne?
Auld lang syne is a noun.
How do you pronounce auld lang syne?
Auld lang syne is pronounced /ˌɔːld læŋ ˈsaɪn/ (UK).

Words near auld lang syne in the dictionary

  1. Auld Alliance
  2. Auld Enemy
  3. Auld Kirk
  4. Auld Kirker
  5. Auld Kirkers
  6. auld lang syne
  7. Auld Licht
  8. Auld Lichts
  9. Auldearn
  10. aulder
  11. auldest

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: auld lang syne (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-auld lang syne.ogg.

Cite this entry: “auld lang syne.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/auld_lang_syne. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.