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donkey's ears
donkey's ears
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.