bring up the old man
v. phr.— «Bring up the old man—request to a new worker in fun. He sometimes comes back up with the janitor. An “old man” is the “backstop for a mechanical drill.”» —“Jargon from International Union of Elevator Constructors, Local No. 1, 208 East 54th St.” by Hatch in New York City Lexicon of Trade Jargon , 1938-39. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
What if, instead of being an inanimate object, a dictionary were alive? That’s the idea behind a lavishly illustrated new children’s book called The Dictionary Story (Bookshop|Amazon) by Oliver Jeffers and Sam Winston. This is part of a...
Sean in Oneonta, New York, says that when he was growing up in New Jersey, his family would pile in the car and set off on a surprise adventure, whether a short distance or long, and the kids would be told only that they were going on Buxtehude...