English · Idiom Candidate

come the old soldier

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

To pretend to be infirm or weak to gain sympathy or avoid duty

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Giả vờ yếu đuối hoặc ốm để nhận được sự đồng cảm hoặc tránh nhiệm vụ

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: act like an experienced soldier

Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

He came the old soldier to get out of doing chores

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.

Topics: War & fighting

Common questions

What does “come the old soldier” mean?

To pretend to be infirm or weak to gain sympathy or avoid duty Literally: act like an experienced soldier

Is “come the old soldier” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.

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