salad days

noun

(used with a plural verb)

1. a period of youthful inexperience.

   a man who never lost the immature attitudes of his salad days.

salad days

plural noun

1. a period of youth and inexperience

salad days

1. A time of youth and inexperience; often, a better and more innocent time. The expression comes from William Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra, where Cleopatra says her early infatuation with Julius Caesar was foolish: “My salad days, when I was green in judgment.” (“Green” refers both to inexperience and to the color of a salad.)

Word History and Origins

Origin of salad days¹

First recorded in 1600–10

Word History and Origins

Origin of salad days¹

allusion to Antony and Cleopatra (1.v.73) by William Shakespeare: ``my salad days When I was green in judgment, cold in blood''

Idioms and Phrases

The time of youth, innocence, and inexperience, as in Back in our salad days we went anywhere at night, never thinking about whether it was safe or not. This expression, alluding to the greenness of inexperience, was probably invented by Shakespeare in Antony and Cleopatra (1:5), when Cleopatra, now enamored of Antony, speaks of her early admiration for Julius Caesar as foolish: “My salad days, when I was green in judgment, cold in blood.”

Example Sentences

They spoke to De Los about their salad days, their new album, “Jungle Cruise” and how young Latinos can navigate this time of upheaval in the U.S.

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These are salad days for the likes of Joseph Uscinski, who spends his time peering down rabbit holes and poking in the dark spaces where weird and woolly things grow.

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I don’t have a sailboat anymore, but in my salad days I’d go sailing at least twice a week.

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Do you feel you have more control over your career now than back in your salad days?

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I don’t have a sailboat anymore but, in my salad days, I’d go sailing at least twice a week.

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