old boy network
noun1
Idiomatic A presumed unacknowledged system of association between childhood friends (especially those at school or university together), used for mutual assistance or favouritism.
- His hiring and promotion of senior officers rested not on merit but on an old-boy network of connections from Wall Street and the Social Register.2007, Tim Weiner, Legacy of Ashes, Penguin, published 2008, page 7:
- Another BWMT member said bars have no open advertising for bartenders and no affirmative action policy. He said bars hire "young, good looking white men" through an "old-boy network."1982 April 10, David Morris, “Highly Segregated”, in Gay Community News, page 2:
- Related terms
- cronyism, male, pale and stale, old boys' club