Darby and Joan
Americannoun
noun
-
an ideal elderly married couple living in domestic harmony
-
a club for elderly people
Etymology
Origin of Darby and Joan
Named after a couple mentioned in an 18th-century song
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
We always used to say, "We can always live together when we get older and retire. We'll be like Darby and Joan and have a few tea parties."
From BBC • Jul. 31, 2017
If nobody interferes with them, perhaps they'll make a model Darby and Joan.
From The Day of His Youth by Brown, Alice
Darby and Joan were not allowed to go beyond the boundaries of Firgrove alone or without special permission, but within their limits they wandered about free as air.
From Two Little Travellers A Story for Girls by Arthur, Frances Browne
You might be Darby and Joan, and play cribbage to the end of your lives.”
From Henry Esmond; The English Humourists; The Four Georges by Saintsbury, George
It made rather a pretty picture, that kitchen, with its Darby and Joan interior.
From First Person Paramount by Pratt, Ambrose
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
