Dictionary

past master en · NOUN

Meanings

1. One who has an extremely high level of ability or knowledge within an area of achievement or expertise.
   • The Hon. Morison was a past master in the art of insidious boasting. 1915 December 4 – 1916 January 8, Edgar Rice Burroughs, chapter XVII, in The Son of Tarzan, Chicago, Ill.: A[lexander] C[aldwell] McClurg & Co., published March 1917, →OCLC, page 245:
   • Hervey responded with such volubility that anyone could see he was a pastmaster in Castilian swearing. 1907, Fergus Hume, chapter 27, in The Green Mummy:
   • Winterbottom is a past master at lending the traditional story-telling format to real stories of the modern world at war. 2007 May 21, Richard Corliss, Mary Corliss, “Cannes Journal: Mighty Hearts and Dark Deeds”, in Time:
   • It required a deft hand and deep knowledge of the barbaric mind effectually to handle such diverse weapons; but he was a past-master in the art, knowing when to conciliate and when to threaten with Jove-like wrath. 1900 April 7, Jack London, “The Son of the Wolf”, in The Son of the Wolf: Tales of the Far North, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company […], →OCLC, page 24:
2. Someone who has previously been a master at a given lodge.

Forms

Synonyms

past master · proficient · dab · master · whiz · dabster · maven · Jedi Master · dab hand · expert · adept · buff · guru · ace · artist · crackerjack · crack hand · top gun · old hand · wiz · old stager · wizard · veteran · old soldier · don hand · expert

Translations (1)

pl majster (expert)