English

Alternative forms

• good old boy network
• old-boy network

Noun

old boy network ‎(plural old boy networks)

1. (idiomatic) A presumed unacknowledged system of association between childhood friends (especially those at school or university together), used for mutual assistance or favouritism.
   • 2007, Tim Weiner, Legacy of Ashes, Penguin 2008, p. 7:

     His hiring and promotion of senior officers rested not on merit but on an old-boy network of connections from Wall Street and the Social Register.