come the old soldier
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
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.
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.