has-been, n. (a.)
(ˈhæzbiːn)
[perf. tense of be v.]
1. a. One that has been but is no longer: a person or thing whose career or efficiency belongs to the past, or whose best days are over. Also hasbeen.
| 1606 W. Birnie Kirk-Buriall (1833) 34 Being now but umwhile, and as an hes-beene. 1786 Burns Inventory 8 My han' afore's a gude auld has-been. 1827 Hone Every-day Bk. II. 820 John Jones may be described as ‘one of the has beens.’ 1853 B. F. Taylor Jan. & June (1871) 206 Dilapidated ‘has-beens’, and despised ‘used-to-be's’. 1879 G. F. Jackson Shropsh. Word-bk. 180 'Er's a good owd 'as bin. 1904 Philadelphia Even. Tel. 9 Nov. 5 Parker and his party are among the has beens. 1905 B. Tarkington In Arena 3 I'll potter along trying to look knowing and secretive, like the rest of the has-beens. 1914 G. Atherton Perch of Devil i. 70 The obsolete notions that made most of our relations a sort of premature has-beens. 1929 Psyche Apr. 27 The age when physicians are divided into Has⁓beens and Neverwozzers. 1972 J. Wambaugh Blue Knight (1973) vii. 104 When I retire I'm just a has-been. |
b. attrib. or adj.
| 1819 Hermit in London II. 133 A has-been battered beau. |
2. pl. Old times. U.S.
| 1904 W. H. Smith Promoters v. 91, I met old Bishop Slosher..and just for has-beens I took him to lunch with me. |