Time to elude poor old American native (10)

I believe the answer is:

indigenous

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'native' is the definition.
(similar in meaning)

'time to elude poor old american' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'old' could be 'o' (common abbreviation eg in OE for Old English) and 'o' is present in the answer.
'american' could be 'us' (abbreviation for United States) and 'us' is found in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for indigenous that I've seen is " Native".)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.

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