Soldier
originally meant a hireling or mercenary; one paid a solidus for military service; but hireling and soldier convey now very different ideas. (See above.)
To come the old soldier over one. To dictate peremptorily and profess superiority of knowledge and experience.
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Entry taken from
Dictionary of Phrase and Fable,
edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.