From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishman/woman of substanceman/woman of substanceBritish English literary a rich man or woman → substance
Examples from the Corpus
man/woman of substance• His will, executed on 12 December 1760, shows him to have been a man of substance.• He accepted the semi-political duties of a man of substance in his county.• But Miss Close's father was a man of substance, and he finally bought the picture for a rather large sum.• He was a man of substance.• I was a man of substance now, I had arrived.• The lowest officials on the administrative tier were the village headmen, who were normally men of substance.• I am not worried about the men of substance.• Aristeides represented the land forces, the men of substance, who provided their own armour and were not paid. 