Idiom
come the old soldier
Meaning
Often followed by with: to deceive, impose upon, or take advantage of someone, as if exploiting one's superior age or experience.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“Do not try to come the old soldier with me.”
“He often comes the old soldier to get out of doing difficult chores.”
“He tried to come the old soldier with the new manager, pretending he knew more about the rules than he actually did.”
“My grandfather loves to come the old soldier whenever I try to explain how modern technology works to him.”
“The senior partner tried to come the old soldier during the meeting to stop the younger staff from suggesting new ideas.”
“The seasoned clerk attempted to come the old soldier with the young trainee, hoping to manipulate the situation by feigning a depth of experience he did not possess.”
Examples
simple
“Do not try to come the old soldier with me.”
“He often comes the old soldier to get out of doing difficult chores.”
contextual
“He tried to come the old soldier with the new manager, pretending he knew more about the rules than he actually did.”
“My grandfather loves to come the old soldier whenever I try to explain how modern technology works to him.”
“The senior partner tried to come the old soldier during the meeting to stop the younger staff from suggesting new ideas.”
complex
“The seasoned clerk attempted to come the old soldier with the young trainee, hoping to manipulate the situation by feigning a depth of experience he did not possess.”
Origin
From *come*, in the sense of behaving in a specific manner or pretending to be, and *old soldier*, a term for one who has served for a long time or possesses significant experience. The idiom describes the act of leveraging one’s age or seniority to take advantage of another.
Key words
Related idioms
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