old hand

One who is experienced; a veteran: an old hand at international politics.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

old hand

1. a person who is skilled at something through long experience

2. informal Austral (in the 19th century) an ex-convict

3. informal Austral a person who is long established in a place

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

old′ hand′

a person with long experience in a subject, area, procedure, etc.; veteran.

[1775–85]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

old hand - an experienced person who has been through many battles; someone who has given long service

old stager, oldtimer, old-timer, stager, warhorse, veteran

expert - a person with special knowledge or ability who performs skillfully

old hand

noun veteran, expert, master, pro (informal), old-timer, old soldier, past master, trouper, warhorse (informal), old stager, one of the old school He is an old hand at organizing training courses.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

old hand

noun

One who has had long experience in a given activity or capacity:

veteran.

Informal: old-timer, vet.

Translations

خَبير، ذو تَجْرِبَه

gammel rotte

alter Hase

vieux routier

tapasztalt vén róka

gamall í hettunni, vanur

assai esperto lancetta mano

starý macher

tecrübeli kimse

老手

old

(əuld) adjective

1. advanced in age. an old man; He is too old to live alone.

2. having a certain age. He is thirty years old.

3. having existed for a long time. an old building; Those trees are very old.

4. no longer useful. She threw away the old shoes.

5. belonging to times long ago. old civilizations like that of Greece.

old age

the later part of a person's life. He wrote most of his poems in his old age.

old boy/girl

a former pupil (of a school). The new prime minister is an old boy of our school.

ˌold-ˈfashioned adjective

in a style common some time ago. old-fashioned clothes; Her hairstyle is very old-fashioned.

old hand

a person who is very experienced. He's an old hand at this sort of job.

old maid

an unmarried woman who is past the usual age of marriage.

the old

old people. hospitals for the old.

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

I took them off with all the coolness of an old hand, and then I placed him on my knee and removed his blouse.

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The professor reached out a thin, trembling old hand through the darkness until it found his old friend's shoulder.

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I had put my candle, designedly, a short way off, and then, as he held out his friendly old hand to me, had sat down on the edge of his bed.

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You can tell at a glance the difference between the old hand and the novice; between the case-hardened man who has been used to shift and struggle for years and the poor devil of a beginner striving to hide his misery, and in a constant agony of fear lest he should be found out.

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"I reckon you won't care to wrastle long with my old hand o' write.

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Sarah, though checked by this flank attack, was herself an old hand in the art.

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All the girl's heart was in her eyes and in her voice as she emptied her purse into the gouty (and greedy) old hand of Bishopriggs.

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You carry it off like an old hand! But at midnight, and in the forest, we shall have other talk together!"

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He had a sense of humor, and later on, when he became an old hand, he used to think it fun to board a streetcar and see what happened.

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He blew a hole in the skirt of my kimono, bless his shaky old hand, but we got a jacket on him, and he's to be all right in a week.

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As for Good, he rose and wrung his hands over the brave man who had given his life to save him, and, though I am an old hand, I felt a lump grow in my throat.

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Well, well; I heard Ahab mutter, "Here some one thrusts these cards into these old hands of mine; swears that I must play them, and no others." And damn me, Ahab, but thou actest right; live in the game, and die it!

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