Meanings
- idiomaticBeen exposed to conmen and hucksters; experienced.
I was one of the few graduating privates promoted from Army class El to E-2. To paraphrase Joan Crawford, I'd been to the rodeo and survived.
n.d., Alan Neff, Precious Tribes, Vicious Lies, page 722 more examples
Some years ago I was talking to a ten-year-old boy who had been to the Rodeo. He was a lad whom most casual observers would readily have called tough.
1950, Melbourne S. Applegate, Helping Boys in Trouble: The Layman in Boy Guidance, page 35I'm a man past his prime who's been to the rodeo and back, as they say. I've been an actor, a bartender, a maitre d', and a hustler, without much success at any of them.
2002, Vincent Lardo, Lawrence Sanders, McNally's Chance
Cite this entry
been to the rodeo. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/been%20to%20the%20rodeo
“been to the rodeo.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/been%20to%20the%20rodeo. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “been to the rodeo,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/been%20to%20the%20rodeo.
Source: been to the rodeo on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.