ain't what it used to was

phrase

Is not what it used to be; (expressing nostalgia).

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Meanings

phrase
  1. colloquialidiomaticIs not what it used to be; (expressing nostalgia).

    Thanksgiving 'ain't what it used to was.'

    1852, Harper's New Monthly Magazine: Volume 5, Harper & Brothers, page 848
    3 more examples

    Your memory ain't what it used to was, my man, or what it ought to be.

    1862, Albany Fonblanque, chapter XXIV, in The St. James's Magazine: Volume 5, Houlston & Wright, A Tangled Skein: A Romance, page 180

    Then Grandmother snuffled a teardrop And said. "It is jest like I suz T’ th’ parson—Grandfather’s liver Ain’t what it used to was."

    1920 October 23, Ellis Parker Butler, “A Pastoral”, in Judge (a satirical magazine)

    With a few more years to procrastinate, as we used to say of the old gray mare, we'll be able to say of the elementary schools, "It ain't what it used to was!"

    1948 December 17, The Winonan, volume XXX, number 3, Winona State Teachers College, Winona, Minn., page 2
Cite this entry
APA

ain't what it used to was. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ain't%20what%20it%20used%20to%20was

MLA

“ain't what it used to was.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ain't%20what%20it%20used%20to%20was. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ain't what it used to was,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ain't%20what%20it%20used%20to%20was.

Source: ain't what it used to was on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.