| 释义 |
oldster|ˈəʊldstə(r)|
[f. old a. + -ster, after youngster.]
1. Naut. A midshipman who is no longer a ‘youngster’; one of four years' standing.
1818‘A. Burton’ Adventures J. Newcome ii. 77 An Oldster with a Gunter's scale Bestow'd his blows as fast as hail. 1829Marryat F. Mildmay ii. 34, I became the William Tell of the party as having been the first to resist the tyranny of the oldsters. 1866Cornh. Mag. Oct. 477 It is their duty as ‘oldsters’ to keep the ‘youngsters’ in order. 1886All Year Round 4 Sept. 105 They, having been youngsters and felt the misery of it in their last ship, were determined to be oldsters, and let us know it in this.
2. gen. One who is no longer a ‘youngster’, youth, or novice; an elderly person; an old stager. Also attrib. colloq.
1848Dickens Dombey x, Her eyes would play the Devil with the youngsters before long,—‘and the oldsters too, Sir, if you come to that’, added the Major. 1883E. E. Hale in Harper's Mag. Jan. 277/2 The carriages appeared for the oldsters, and the youngsters went on foot. 1938[see married n.]. 1942Sun (Baltimore) 10 Oct. 10/3 The oldsters, travelling salesmen and the like, have learned to tote their own satchel. 1957New Yorker 21 Sept. 33/3 Last week, our interest in nimble oldsters led us to the twenty-fifth floor of the Whitehall Building. 1964Wall St. Jrnl. 5 Feb. 16 ‘The youngsters are chafing at the bit and aren't willing to wait and see how the civil rights bill shapes up,’ he adds, ‘and we oldsters can't hold back any longer.’ 1973M. Amis Rachel Papers 112 What was more, the producers could afford only middle-aged actors and actresses. I shifted in my seat as the camera inexpertly focused on a parade of oldster genitals. 1974Anderson (S. Carolina) Independent 18 Apr. 4A/2 By getting married, two oldsters in a Portland, Ore., nursing home had their Social Security cut from $412 a month to $309.40 a month because the regulations assume two can live as cheaply as one. |