Word.ws English Dictionary

donkey's years

donkey's years noun: a long time, years and years.

Noun

donkey's years pl (plural only)

  1. (Commonwealth, Ireland, UK, idiomatic, plural, plural-only) A long time, years and years.
    • Didn't you ask him how long it had been in his possession?
      I can't recollect that. I might have done so.
      Didn't he say for years and years and donkey's years?1876, The Salisbury Times
    • With a heavy make-up, you’ll be the cutest vamp I’ve seen in donkey's years.1923, The Bridgeport Telegram

Forms of donkey's years

alternative formdonkeys' years
alternative formdonkey's

Origin of donkey's years

1876 or earlier. Possibly chosen because donkeys can be long-lived animals. Likely directly related to donkey's ears, a less frequently used rhyming slang term for years.https://wordhistories.net/2016/06/30/donkeys-years/

Questions about donkey's years

What does donkey's years mean?
Donkey's years means a long time, years and years.
What part of speech is donkey's years?
Donkey's years is a noun.

Words near donkey's years in the dictionary

  1. donkey votes
  2. donkey work
  3. donkey's
  4. donkey's ears
  5. donkey's eye
  6. donkey's years
  7. donkey-boy
  8. donkey-boyed
  9. donkey-boying
  10. donkey-boys
  11. donkey-punch

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: donkey's years (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-donkey's years.ogg.

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