old guard
nounEtymology Calque of French vieille garde.
1
A (comparatively) conservative, reactionary faction that is more unwilling to accept new ideas than their peers are.
2
Collectively, the members of a team who have been a long time in a place.
- The Blues, without new big-money signings Fernando Torres and David Luiz, relied on their old guard to dig them out of an early hole.2011 February 1, Saj Chowdhury, “Sunderland 2 - 4 Chelsea”, in BBC:
- Derived terms
- old guardism, old guardist
- Related terms
- old school