oldcomer

English

Etymology

Blend of old +‎ newcomer

Noun

oldcomer (plural oldcomers)

1. An immigrant or the descendant of immigrants who has lived in their new environment long enough to become well-established.
   • 1940, Lord Dunsany, Jorkens Has a Large Whiskey, page 111:

     For instance, if a newcomer in any neighbourhood called first on an oldcomer, the act was classed with burglaries: nobody ever did call thus on an older resident, but, if anyone had, that is how it would have been looked on.

   • 2010, Ryoko Tsuneyoshi, Kaori H. Okano, Sarane Boocock, Minorities and Multiculturalism in Japanese Education, page 165:

     As has already been described, in the 'oldcomer' district, 'newcomers' are at times in the position of being helped by the established 'foreigners' of the community.

   • 2019, Michael Strausz, Help (Not) Wanted: Immigration Politics in Japan, page 30:

     This chapter examines the evolution of Japanese elites' though about the appropriate role of foreign residents in Japan —which, for most of the postwar period, was a community largely made up of oldcomer Koreans. In particular, I focus on the period in the 1970s and 1980s when Japan ultimately decided to outlaw a variety of discriminatory practices against oldcomer Koreans.

2. One who has been acquainted with something for a long time; an established member of a group who is familiar with the group culture and resources.
   • 1948, United States. Congress. Senate. Small Business Enterprises, Problems of American Small Business, page 3388:

     If not, if you are not going to protect the business that has earned some by competition, then there is going to be no protection for anyone at any time, unless you are going to shoot craps for all licenses, not even a newcomer who wants to become an "oldcomer."

   • 1956, Educational Leadership - Volume 14, page 217:

     This profession has an important role to play in easing the tensions which often arise when newcomer meets oldcomer.

   • 2013, Jessicah Krey Duckworth, Wide Welcome, page 82:

     The challenge of the latter way of joining a subgroup arises when the newcomer does not have an oldcomer willing to help her navigate the reified resources of the current community.

3. A member of a therapeutic community who has achieved a trusted status and is assigned as a mentor to a newcomer.
   • 1990, Arnold S. Trebach, Kevin B. Zeese, Drug Prohibition and the Conscience of Nations, page 171:

     An oldcomer must supervise a first phaser in the host home—if a kid just wants to pick up a pen, he has to ask permission from an oldcomer—and the kids must call the parents of the host home "Mom" and "Dad" as if they are part of a new family.

   • 1993, Alfred J. Finch, W. Michael Nelson, Edith S. Ott, Cognitive-behavioral Procedures with Children and Adolescents, page 339:

     This is accomplished through group "raps" or therapy sessions as well as by the assigning of an "oldcomer" ( positive role model ) to each of the "newcomers." It is through the child's oldcomer that he or she has a further opportunity to question past beliefs and behavior with respect to drugs.

   • 2017, Cyndy Etler, Dead Inside: A True Story:

     I am your oldcomer. I'll be in the room with you every minute that we're out of the building. You are a newcomer. You cannot be trusted.

Synonyms

• veteran

Antonyms

• beginner    [⇒ thesaurus]