We have seen better days sentence informal
To have been in better condition in the past.
We have seen better days but we will make it through.
My laptop has seen better days, I think it's time to get a new one.
We have seen better days but we are still good at our job.
1. To become shabby or worn along the edges when talking about fabric or threads
2. To become weaker or less effective, or start to fail
To be extremely old (a joke or a story)
Another individual is far older than the individual in question
An old-fashioned pub.
"Timon of Athens" by William Shakespeare. (Image Source: FineArtsMuseums)
The expression originally described a person who had been wealthy, but had fallen on hard times. The line is first recorded in the play Sir Thomas More, which is a play written by several playwrights, including Shakespeare:
"Hauing seene better dayes, now know the lack Of glorie that once rearde eche high-fed back."
Shakespeare later used it in several plays, for example, Timon of Athens, 1607:
"As 'twere a knell unto our master's fortunes,
'We have seen better days.' Let each take some;"