the granddaddy of them all

the granddaddy of them all

The biggest, oldest, most impressive, or most respected of a certain kind of person or thing. I own a lot of vintage cars, but my 1926 Bentley is the granddaddy of them all.

See also: all, granddaddy, of

Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

granddaddy of them all

The first, oldest, or most respected of its kind, as in That computer is the grandaddy of them all. [Colloquial; c. 1900]

See also: all, granddaddy, of

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

(grand)daddy (of them all)

n. the biggest or oldest of all; the patriarch. This old fish is the granddaddy of them all.

See also: all, granddaddy, of

McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions Copyright © 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

granddaddy of them all

The first, oldest, or greatest example of something. This colloquialism dates from about 1900 and is never applied to a person. For example, “That was the granddaddy of all hurricanes, according to the weather forecaster.” The Persian Gulf War of 1991 gave rise to a similar locution, the mother of all . . . , meaning the greatest or best of something and based on a translation from Arabic. It was first applied by Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein to a major battle (“the mother of all battles”). At this writing it has not yet supplanted granddaddy, but possibly one day it will.

See also: all, granddaddy, of

The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer