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1844 Fleet Papers 20 July 412 One of them [sc. the Preston master manufacturers], being a railway director, deemed it necessary to dispatch a special train of ‘long-timers’ to wait upon Sir J. Graham.

1863 C. Dickens Uncommerc. Traveller in All Year Round 20 June 400/2 The Short-Timers, in a writing competition, beat the Long-Timers of a first-class National School.

1874 Rep. State Prison (Joint Comm. Senate & Assembly Calif.) 68 If the stone prison were gutted out and made into single cells, it would be a very good place to keep the ‘long-timers.’

1899 Pharmaceut. Era 27 July 132/1 A uniform makes a man too conspicuous, especially if he is a ‘long timer’ and modest. New men invariably go ashore in uniform.

1911 E. M. Bowman Master Lessons in Pianoforte Playing ix. 57 It [sc. the exercise] is equally good for the beginner who has the legato-touch all to learn and for the long-timer who must first unlearn his chronic staccato.

1952 ‘J. Henry’ Who lie in Gaol viii. 133 The long-timers are allowed to plant a few things in a plot there if they want to.

1971 Washington Post 25 Sept. (Real Estate section) e20/1 Two other long-timers will also be retiring at the end of this month.

1991 J. Quillen Alcatraz from Inside Pref. p. vii Each time a new ‘fish’ arrived, it usually meant that there was hope that some of the old ‘long-timers’ might be transferred to another institution.

2014 Sunday Times (Ireland ed.) (Nexis) 12 Jan. 15 Unlike many child actors.., she appears set to emulate the careers of long-timers such as Jodie Foster and Natalie Portman.