English

Noun

auld lang syne ‎(uncountable)

1. (idiomatic) Days gone by; former times.
   • 1849, Charlotte Brontë, Shirley, Wordsworth Editions (ISBN 9781853260643), page 358

     That 'auld lang syne' had still its authority both with preceptor and scholar was proved by the manner in which he sometimes promptly passed the distance she usually maintained between them, and put down her high reserve with a firm, quiet hand.

   • 1861, Mrs Beeton's Household Management, Wordsworth Editions (ISBN 9781840222685), page 518

     Diners a la Russe may possibly, erewhile, save modern gentlemen the necessity of learning the art which was in auld lang syne one of the necessary accomplishments of the youthful squire [...]

   • 1928, Percy Grainger, Self-Portrait of Percy Grainger, Oxford University Press (ISBN 9780190294090)

     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.

Derived terms

• for old lang syne

Translations

Scots

Etymology

Cognate to the English "old long since" – for more information, see auld, lang and syne. Popularized by Robert Burns, but the phrase predates his version of the poem "Auld Lang Syne".^[1]

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɔːl(d) lɑŋˈsəin/

Noun

auld lang syne ‎(uncountable)

1. (idiomatic) Days gone by; former times.
   • 1788, Robert Burns, Auld Lang Syne:

     For auld lang syne, my jo, for auld lang syne, we’ll tak’ a cup o’ kindness yet, for auld lang syne.

   • 1839, Dialogues, Poems, Songs, and Ballads, page 161

     Yet, man, it's lang sen we, togither / Hev hed a crack wi' yen anither / An now I'm nowther leath nor lither / If ye've a meynde / To reang first tea part an' than t'other / Of auld lang syne.

   • 1867, Eliakim Littell, Robert S. Littell, The Living Age ..., page 385:

     And when I'm cutting, and stitching, and hammering,, at the window, and dreaming o' auld lang syne, and fechting my battles ower again, and when I think o' this and that awra' time that I have seen wi' brave comrades noo lying in some neuk in Spain

References

1. ↑ “Broadside ballad entitled 'Old Long Syne'”, in (Please provide the title of the work), nls.uk, (Please provide a date or year)