old-timer
Americannoun
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a person whose residence, membership, or experience began long ago and has been continuing for a considerable length of time; veteran.
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an old person.
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an old-fashioned person or thing.
noun
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a person who has been in a certain place, occupation, etc, for a long time
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an old man
Etymology
Origin of old-timer
Explanation
An old-timer is someone who's been around a long time and has experienced a lot. When you get a new job, the old-timers there are the ones who can show you how things are done. Old-timers are veterans — they're been through it all. The old-timers in a busy office might reminisce about the days before computers, when everyone used typewriters and Rolodexes, and the old-timers in your neighborhood can tell you how quiet it used to be. You can also use this noun to mean "elderly person," like your grandpa and his buddies: "There are so many old-timers at the gym lately, I can never find a free treadmill."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“When we first started,” Hamalainen said, “it was common for an old-timer to take a new hire aside and say, ‘Well, kid, you’ll have a job for life.’
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 10, 2024
Luis Angel Firpo in the old-timer category and Theresa Kibby in the women’s trailblazer category were the other fighters in the class.
From Washington Times • Dec. 7, 2023
An unexpected departure for the duo was “The Straight Story,” a 1999 Disney film starring Richard Farnsworth as an old-timer driving cross-country on his riding lawn mower.
From Washington Post • Dec. 12, 2022
“I’m an old-timer, and I find it hard to believe that anything can be so weak,” Cheng says.
From Science Magazine • Sep. 12, 2022
I was afraid he’d want to wait to ask some of his old-timer railroad friends for their opinion.
From "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Malcolm X;Hailey
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
