Noun
(also figurative) A former soldier, or one who has served for a long time. [from 17th c.]
Someone with a lot of experience in something; an old hand. [from 18th c.]
(US, slang) The butt of a smoked cigar, or an empty bottle of liquor. [from 19th c.]
(slang) A bottle whose contents are drunk at a single sitting.
Source: en.wiktionary.orgAnd like the old soldier in that ballad, I now close my military career and just fade away, an old soldier who tried to do his duty as God gave him the sight to see that duty. Douglas MacArthur
You can always tell an old soldier by the inside of his holsters and cartridge boxes. The young ones carry pistols and cartridges; the old ones, grub. George Bernard Shaw
It's better to fade away like an old soldier than to burn out. John Lennon
It's better to fade away like an old soldier than to burn out. I don't appreciate worship of dead Sid Vicious or of dead James Dean or of dead John Wayne. It's the same thing. Making Sid Vicious a hero, Jim Morrison - it's garbage to me. I worship the people who survive. Gloria Swanson, Greta Garbo. John Lennon