No longer young. This unflattering remark has been made since the early eighteenth century and, as far as can be gathered, is applied mostly to women. Men seldom are accused of aging in just this way. In print, it appeared (without “spring”) in Addison and Steele’s The Spectator (1711) and soon after was taken up by Jonathan Swift in Stella’s Birthday (1720): “Pursue your trade of scandal-picking, Your hints that Stella is no chicken.”