donkey

In an exceptionally long period of time. The phrase likely originated as the rhyming slang, shortened to simply "donkeys," of "donkey's ears" —where "ears" rhymes with "years" and alludes to the length of a donkey's ears. I haven't seen Jim in donkeys! How's he doing these days?

An exceptionally long period of time. The phrase likely originated as rhyming slang, where "ears" rhymes with "years" and alludes to the length of a donkey's ears. Throughout time, it became more popularized as "donkey's years." I haven't seen Jim in donkey's ears! How's he doing these days? It's been donkey's ears since we last got together like this.

A seemingly small or inconsequential issue, problem, or burden that proves to be the final catalyst in causing an overworked or overburdened person, system, organization, etc., to fail, give up, or collapse. (A less common variant of "the straw that breaks the camel's back.") I'm already fed up with your lazy, selfish behavior, Jim, but if you can't be bothered to come with me to my own mother's funeral, that will be the straw that breaks the donkey's back! With governmental resources already strained to the breaking point, any sort of environmental disaster would be the straw that breaks the donkey's back.

A seemingly small or inconsequential issue, problem, or burden that proves to be the final catalyst in causing an overworked or overburdened person, system, organization, etc., to fail, give up, or collapse. (A less common variant of "the straw that broke the camel's back.") I was already fed up with my husband's lazy, selfish ways, but it was his refusal to get off the couch and come with me to my mother's funeral that was the straw that broke the donkey's back! With governmental resources already strained to the breaking point, any sort of environmental disaster would likely be the straw that broke the donkey's back.

vulgar slang To be remarkably bad, unpleasant, disappointing, or upsetting. Well, that movie sucked donkey balls. I wish I could get my money back! Yeah, I heard that class sucks donkey balls, so I'm taking an Intro to Chemistry course instead.

a very long time I've been doing this job for donkey's years.

if you say that someone can talk the hind leg off a donkey, you mean that they talk a lot His father could talk the hind leg off a donkey.

hard, boring work Why do I have to do all the donkey work while you get to do the interesting stuff?

A long time, as in I haven't seen her in donkey's years. This expression punningly alludes to the considerable length of the animal's ears. [Early 1900s]

Also, talk someone's ear or head or pants off ; talk a blue streak; talk until one is blue in the face; talk the bark off a tree or the hind leg off a donkey or horse . Talk so much as to exhaust the listener, as in Whenever I run into her she talks my arm off, or Louise was so excited that she talked a blue streak, or You can talk the bark off a tree but you still won't convince me. The first four expressions imply that one is so bored by a person's loquacity that one's arm (or ear or head or pants) fall off; they date from the first half of the 1900s (also see pants off). The term like a blue streak alone simply means "very quickly," but in this idiom, first recorded in 1914, it means "continuously." The obvious hyperboles implying talk that takes the bark off a tree, first recorded in 1831, or the hind leg off a horse, from 1808, are heard less often today. Also see under blue in the face.