Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(a) used emphatically in direct address [Gold, A Jazz Lexicon (1964), and Major, Juba to Jive: A Dict. of Afro-American Slang (1994), suggest that the term was adopted by US blacks to counter the common white use of ‘boy’ when addressing blacks: note McCall, Makes Me Wanna Holler (1994): ‘More fights started over one person calling another ‘boy’ than over anything else. To counter that indignity, we addressed each other respectfully as ‘man’, even though we were not adults’].

c.1386		Chaucer Reeve’s Tale (1979) line 219: Step on thy feet! Com of, man, al atanes!
c.1499		Skelton Bowge of Courte line 388: What the devyll, man, myrth was never one!
1575		‘Mr. S’ Gammer Gurton’s Needle in Whitworth (1997) II i: Gog’s soul, man, […] Cha’ bit no bite this livelong day.
1594		Greene James IV I i: Fall to it; dance, I say, man.
1605		Chapman & Jonson Eastward Ho! I i: ’Slife, man, his father was a malt-man, and his mother sold gingerbread in Christ-church!
c.1617		Fletcher Chances III i: She’ll grow stark mad, Man.
1637		T. Heywood Royal King and Loyal Subject I i: Say you so, man?
1652		Jonson, Fletcher & Middleton Widdow I ii: Why man, Fortune never minds us, till we are left alone to ourselves.
1686		Behn Lucky Chance III v: Why, what a pox, are you mad? ’Tis I, ’tis I, man.
1705–07		N. Ward Hudibras Redivivus I:9 11: But man, says he, I’ll tell thee what.
1730		J. Miller Humours of Oxford V i: What’s the Matter now, Man?
1758		A. Murphy Upholsterer II iii: Odsheart Man be of good chear.
1767		‘Andrew Barton’ Disappointment I i: By my saul mon!
1808		G. Colman Yngr Blue Devils 9: Pooh, pooh! I can’t go, mun.
1827		T. Morton A School For Grown Children II i: Oh, you must not be civil, mun!
1827		Standard (London) 20 Oct. 1/3: Take it all, man — take it all.
1834		‘Of All The Blowings On The Town’ Flash Chaunter 5: Her mother she’s a lushington, / And stone blind drunk all day man.
1867		H.L. Williams Ticket-of-Leave Man 23: Oh, man—can’t you help a chap get a good night’s rest?
1888		‘Rolf Boldrewood’ Robbery Under Arms (1922) 273: Dash it, man, what’s the use of us wasting time jawing here?
1898		Boy’s Own Paper 17 Dec. 187: Why, man, your mother is sure to consent.
1905		Sporting Times 13 May 4/4: Lor’ bless you, man, I haven’t bowled for ten years.
1911		E.B. Morris Senior 30: Collins. She turned me down. But, man, I did it so well!
1914		Joyce ‘Two Gallants’ Dubliners (1956) 48: I was afraid, man, she’d get in the family way.
1917		Wodehouse ‘The Making of Mac’s’ Man with Two Left Feet 130: ‘But, heavens, man!’ I cried.
1923		‘Sapper’ Jim Maitland (1953) 83: Why, man – I wouldn’t have believed it possible!
1939		Rover 18 Feb. 11: Man, the referee’s daft!
1941		‘Digg Mee’ ‘Observation Post’ in N.Y. Age 26 Apr. 9/7: Peppermint candy is solid handy, when coming to the end of your ‘reefer session,’ Mandy.
1946		Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 11: Man, it was wonderful to see the look in Murph’s eye when Yellow was blowing up a breeze.
1953		L. Uris Battle Cry (1964) 34: Oh, man [...] my lil ole pappy tole me not to leave our magnolia plantation.
1961		T. Taylor Baron’s Court All Change (2011) 20: Man, this was a lot better.
1966		H.S. Thompson Hell’s Angels (1967) 48: Man, I tell you we had some real beefs.
1974		V.E. Smith Jones Men 53: Man, like I just can’t do no more time, you hear me?
1987		T. Wolfe Bonfire of the Vanities 4: We don’t want your figures, man!
1999		Guardian Guide 15–21 May 23: Man, my mother was a woman. I loved my mother.
2000		Z. Smith White Teeth 22: Man [...] dis life no easy!
2009		J. Joso Soothing Music for Stray Cats 169: Man, I was pissed at these guys.
2010		A. Steinberg Running the Books 6: Inmates exchange intrixcate handshakes and formal titles: OG, young G, boo, bro, baby boy, brutha, dude, cuz, dawg, P, G, daddy, pimpin’, nigga, man, thug thizzle, my boy, my man, homie.

(b) used in direct address, without emphasis, usu. to acknowledge a shared social or cultural identity (later usage sometimes includes women, children and animals).

1900		Boy’s Own Paper 22 Dec. 187: ‘Hold hard, Jack,’ he cried; ‘why, man, don’t you see it’s only a garden hose?’.
1911		J. Masefield Everlasting Mercy 40: At that I leaped and screamed and ran, / I heard their cries go ‘Catch him, man.’.
1928		Blind Lemon Jefferson ‘Long Lastin’ Lovin’ 🎵 She has dark brown skin and we call her ‘Chocolate Drop’ / Got this old-fashioned lovin, man it just won’t stop.
1937		E. Anderson Thieves Like Us 2: ‘Godamighty, Man,’ Jasbo said.
1950		‘Hal Ellson’ Tomboy (1952) 144: Are you trying to be funny, man, or are you just stupid?
1966		T. Keyes All Night Stand 83: What about some sounds, man.
1967		in S. Harris Hellhole 145: He turns to me [i.e. a woman] and says, ‘I mean, man, now you have miss your chance.’.
1974		(con. 1960s) R. Price Wanderers 16: Don’t worry, man, you ain’t gonna have to fight everybody. Just me.
1981		Eble Campus Sl. Fall 5: man – universal label for all people: Yo, Mom, man. Let me speak to Dad.
1983		J. Byrell (con. 1959) Up the Cross 8: ‘Hi, man,’ said Mick the Muso.
1990		(con. early 1950s) J. Ellroy L.A. Confidential 21: Say what, man? What line you mean?
1992		V. Headley Yardie 76: Stay away from me, man.
1999		Indep. Rev. 9 Aug. 1: ‘Man,’ says the new-generation Prankster, ‘you people really are sooo beautiful’.
2000		Guardian Guide 1–6 Jan. 18: Hoping you is getting over the flu, man.

(a) the head of a coin.

1828		‘Jon Bee’ Living Picture of London 241: The person calling for ‘man’ or ‘woman’.
1899		‘Pot’ & ‘Swears’ Scarlet City 73: I’ll toss you [...] Now then, ’man’ or ‘woman’. You cry.

(b) (US) $1.

1910		T.A. Dorgan in Zwilling TAD Lex. (1993) 56: Here’s the salary with the three extra men for the night I worked.
1920		R. Lardner Big Town 191: I must of went crazy and played him for a thousand men.
1921		R. Lardner ‘A Frame-Up’ in Coll. Short Stories (1941) 420: If I was you I’d take my seven hundred men and invest it.

(a) the holder of institutional authority, whether an individual, e.g. a prison warden, a senior military officer, or in sing. or pl., a group, e.g. policemen, prison officers.

1918		H. Simon ‘Prison Dict.’ in AS VIII:3 (1933) 29/2: MAN (the). Executive Officer; as when a guard yells, Unuther goddam word out o’ you-all, an’ Ah’ll send ev’ry goddam one of ye up t’ the Man.
1929		C.G. Givens ‘Chatter of Guns’ in Sat. Eve. Post 13 Apr. list extracted in AS VI:2 1930 133: Man, the, n. Warden.
1934		H. Sebastian ‘Negro Sl. in Lincoln University’ in AS IX:4 288: man Anyone in authority. When I rode [q.v.] in that exam I took the Man out! means ‘When I cheated in that exam I put one over on the professor!’.
1944		C. Himes ‘Let Me at the Enemy’ in Coll. Stories (1990) 42: When them cats went in for dinner I found the man an’ said, ‘I’m quittin.’.
1958		W. Motley Let No Man Write My Epitaph (1960) 164: Here comes The Man! [...] The Man what brings the heat. Every dope fiend got off the street and hit his hole.
1968		N. Heard Howard Street 25: Bitch, shut up that noise! [...] You wanna bring the man down on me or somethin’?
1978		J. Webb Fields of Fire (1980) 144: As long as he’s looking good to the Man [i.e. a superior officer], he couldn’t give a rat’s ass how many people are bleeding.
1978		D. Marechera House of Hunger (2013) [ebook] Know what The Man says? He says, If you think the world is all wrong, just turn your mind back to front and everything will be all right.
1982		G. Newbold Big Huey 251: ‘Man (n) ... 3. Police.
1987		(con. 1967) E. Spencer Welcome to Vietnam (1989) 71: When you live with killers on some lonesome mountain out beyond nowhere and you’re The Man, you do adjust.
1995		J. Cameron Vinnie Got Blown Away 155: I got to see the man.
2001		D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 113/1: man, the n. 3 a police officer.
2006		C. Hiaasen Nature Girl 16: You see the Man coming, first thing to go overboard is the gun.
2013		T. Dorsey Riptide Ultra-Glide 277: Okay, but that’s entrapment if you’re The Man.
2021		T. Pluck Boy from County Hell 76: Time to stop robbing The Man, and work for him.

(b) the holder of power, in a non-institutional context; anyone deemed exceptional in ability; thus (US black) you the man, a phr. implying one’s acceptance of another person’s superiority.

1928		R. Fisher Walls Of Jericho 306: the man Designation of abstract authority. He who trespasses where a sign forbids is asked: ‘Say, biggy, can’t you read the man’s sign?’.
1942		C. Himes ‘In the Night’ in Coll. Stories (1990) 344: Look, buddy, what are we fighting each other for, we’re both starving; let’s get together and fight the man.
1952		(con. 1948) G. Mandel Flee the Angry Strangers 33: I’m digging a lot of Armstrong, ’cause he’s the man.
1968		N. Heard Howard Street 107: For the younger kids ‘the man’ was school, for the older ones, employers, to the hustlers he was a trick or a score.
1975		N. De Mille Smack Man (1991) 34: I’m the Man, man [...] A bitch ain’t nuthin’ without her Man [i.e. a pimp]. They too dumb to handle it [prostitution] themselves.
1988		W.D. Myers Scorpions 207: ‘You got to run the Scorpions [...] You the man, Mack’.
1997		(con. 1970s) G. Pelecanos King Suckerman (1998) 14: The Man with the Master Plan Who Be Takin’ It to the Man.
1999		Observer Mag. 5 Sept. 35: We all like him. He’s the man. The first. The best.
1999		R.G. Barrett Wind & Monkey (2013) [ebook] ‘Yo de man Les. Yo do fuckin man’.
2000		W. Shaw Westsiders 38: Giovanni — rest in peace — was the man. He always had the new mix tapes and the flyest gear.
2001		D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 113/1: man, the n. 2 an inmate held in high esteem.
2007		W.D. Myers ‘the man thing’ in What They Found 120: ‘‘Man, you’re only seventeen and you copped your [high school diploma] papers already? [...] You the man, bro, you definitely the man!’’.
2015		Jamaica Obs. 23 Aug. 🌐 ‘Bolt is still the man!’ ‘Bolt has distinguished himself as a truly legendary athlete’.
2021		T. Swerdlow Straight Dope [ebook] — I say we just go in there [to a pitch meeting] and kick ass. You’re the man.

(c) (US, also the Man above, the big man) God.

1936		J.T. Farrell World I Never Made 65: When we go, Mother, it’s because we are called by the Great Man above.
1967		P. Thomas Down These Mean Streets (1970) 316: I [...] bent my knees, feeling like for the first time in my life I was really going to get together with the Big Man.
1989		Hackworth & Sherman About Face (1991) 30: I was really talking to God. I was talking to The Man.
1997		Share Slanguage.

(d) (orig. US) a (major) drug dealer.

1942		Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Sl.
1953		‘William Lee’ Junkie (1966) 87: When I first hit New Orleans the main pusher – or ‘the Man’ as they say here – was a character called Yellow.
1961		Rigney & Smith Real Bohemia xx: The addict, known as a ‘junkie’ or ‘hype,’ purchases his heroin from ‘the man’.
1961		T. Taylor Baron’s Court All Change (2011) 52: Half an hour later we were climbing the stairs of The Man’s house. [...] ‘This is it [...] The best Gunja you’re likely to smoke for a very long time’.
1970		E. Tidyman Shaft 57: The man, the pusher, would be back.
1980		(con. 1940s–60s) H. Huncke ‘Johnnie I’ in Eve. Sun Turned Crimson (1998) 118: Is there a connection a round? I have to cop [...] It’s too early to see my man.
1982		G. Newbold Big Huey 251: Man (n) .,. 2. Dealer in drugs or stolen goods.
1986		D. Barker (con. c.1945) Life in Jazz 171: ‘[S]omebody whispered—pulled my coat— “The man's coming with something for Charlie [Parker]”. [...] But that day, until those people came there, he was sitting around looking off into space, sweating’.
1989		(con. 1982–6) T. Williams Cocaine Kids (1990) 48: Right now, I’m waiting for my man to come through.
1993		I. Welsh Trainspotting 21: With [...] all due reverence tae Mikey’s status as The Man, ah hand them [i.e. pound notes] ower.
2000		M. Manning Get Your Cock Out 13: Why bother waiting for the man when you could achieve oblivion with a couple of bottles of vodka at a fraction of the price.
2001		D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 113/1: man, the n. 1 the person holding the drugs in the prison.
2007		(con. 1962) E. Bunker Stark 14: Stark guessed he was a runner. Maybe he could lead him to the Man.
2010		K. Richards Life 407: I’m under the benches, just hiding and throwing up, because the man hasn’t arrived [...] Any way you look at it, junkies are people waiting for the man.

(e) (US black) the white ruling class.

1942		Z.N. Hurston ‘Story in Harlem Sl.’ in Novels and Stories (1995) 1010: The man: the law or powerful boss.
1969		H. Rap Brown Die Nigger Die! 3: negro america: Think white or I’ll kill you. / And if you think too white ‘the man’ will kill you.
1972		Milner & Milner Black Players 231: If I get busted and they put me in the joint, forget about me and keep doing that thing. Get the Man [...] get him.
1980		E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 4: The [white] Man he ain’t down wid d’ happ’nin’s [knowledgeable about what is happening].
1994		N. McCall Makes Me Wanna Holler (1995) 301: They talked white and thought white and even dressed goofy like the man.
2000		Ebonics Primer at www.dolemite.com 🌐 man, the Definition: 1. a working boss; the Caucasian male 2. a personification of white society, especially racially repressive white society [...] Example: The man is holdin me down.
2022		J. Hannaham Didn’t Nobody Give a Shit 76: ‘De prodigal dawtah home from de man jail!’.

(f) a crime boss, esp. when he masquerades as a respectable businessman.

1953		J. Thompson Savage Night (1991) 8: You’ve heard of The Man [...] One month he’s up before some government investigating committee. The next he’s attending a big political dinner.
1960		C. Cooper Jr Scene (1996) 79: Maybe the Big Boy won’t let The Man ease out.
1974		V.E. Smith Jones Men 5: Hey, Jack, he the man.
1988		D. Woodrell Muscle for the Wing 217: You want to be on the right side of the man, you listen to me.
1996		J. Cameron It Was An Accident 39: Wondering why the fuck the man was after me. On account of I spoke to the Old Bill?
2001		K. Sampson Outlaws (ms.) 9: Just listen to him. Monsieur Mob. Signor Blag. The fucking Man.

(g) (US black) the US Government.

1970		G. Scott-Heron Vulture (1996) 27: When I hit eighteen, I went straight to the Man and got my card.
1971		H.E. Roberts Third Ear n.p.: The Man n. [...] 6. Uncle Sam; the government.

(h) an exemplary person.

1974		R. Blount Jr About Three Bricks Shy of a Load 36: [I]n ‘73, at least on offense, no Steeler ever became the Man.
1996		W.D. Myers Slam! 80: [B]efore the game everybody was looking at me like I was nothing and then after the game I was the man.
2002		Teen Lingo: The Source for Youth Ministry 🌐 the man n. [...] 2. a guy who is extremely cool. ‘Thanks for the hook up. You’re the man!’.
2010		K. Richards Life 481: It wasn’t very long before I knew that he’s the man.
2023		(con. 1962) J. Ellroy Enchanters 133: We [...] dispensed backslaps and Freddy’s-the-Man pap.