To have declined, to have become less prosperous, more worn, and the like. This term was first used by Shakespeare to describe a decline of fortune; Timon’s steward, Flavius, says to his servants, “Let’s shake our heads, and say, as ’twere a knell unto our master’s fortunes, ‘We have seen better days’” (Timon of Athens, 4.2). Sir Walter Scott used it to describe aging (The Lay of the Last Minstrel, 1805): “His wither’d cheek and tresses grey seem’d to have known a better day.” We still use it to describe, for example, a piece of worn-out furniture (“This couch has seen better days”).