past master

1. 1.

   someone who was formerly a master

   Broadermaster
2. 2.

   someone who has long and thorough experience in a given activity

   Broaderexpert

Questions about past master

What does past master mean?

past master means "someone who was formerly a master". That is the primary sense; the word has 2 in total, listed in full on this page.

Is past master a common word?

past master is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.