past-master

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.

The Sun of the Wolf 2010

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.

The Son of the Wolf 2010

The lock had evidently been gaffed by a past-master.

Wild Dreams of Reality, 5 2010

Saying George is our greatest comedian is a way to shorthand the range and depth of his comedy - though he was also a past-master of what he called 'micro' or observational comedy - and to set him apart to this extent: now that his work is complete, he's the one to beat.

Tony Hendra: George Carlin: The Last Words of America's Greatest Comedian 2009

It is a form of psychological terrorism, and Obama is a past-master at it.

Smoking Guns and the Morality of Parliamentary Privilege 2008

But Ralph Nader is a past-master at confronting financial malfeasance and has had a detailed list of prescriptions from the first day of this crisis.

Get Ready America, for President Ralph Nader 2008

And I have not stayed thy swimmings in the lake, nor thy wanderings in the wood, and thou hast learned bowshot there, till thou art now a past-master in the craft: and, moreover, thou art swift-foot as the best of the deer, and mayest over-run any one of them whom thou wilt.

The Water of the Wondrous Isles 2007

Brown is the past-master of technical spin and complex, shifting-sand arguments wrapped inside deceptions wrapped inside spins wrapped inside cosy little lies.

Gordon Brown Admits He Was Wrong...Sort Of 2007

Two other convicts, brought with la Pouraille from La Force within these twenty-four hours, had at once acknowledged and made the whole prison-yard acknowledge the supremacy of this past-master sealed to the scaffold.

Scenes from a Courtesan's Life 2007

Useless to hurry Hilary, a past-master in saving time.

Maid in Waiting 2004