Green’s Dictionary of Slang

buddy n.

[SE brother or dial. butty; itself ult. obs. SE booty, sharing; however, note earlier bud n.1 ]

1. (orig. US, also buddie) a form of address to a male.

[US] ‘Buddy Quow’ in Lalla & D’Costa Lang. in Exile (1990) 110: Dat Backrow Man go wrong you, Buddy Quow.
[WI]S.A. Mathews ‘Dialogue between Uncoo Cudjoe & Buddy Quow’ in Willshire Squeeze 80: Den ee tun ee hed, ee say aw, buddy, aw no bin yerry so, awee in kum look pun um bumby.
B. Premium Eight Years British Guiana 218: Buddy (brother) how you can tink me sha’ talk so to you? [...] ‘Buddy,’ applying to some one near, ‘you no see me?’.
[US]C.A. Siringo Texas Cow Boy (1950) 33: It’s a trade buddy, but you will have to go up to that little house yonder, to get the money.
[US]L.W. Payne Jr ‘Word-List From East Alabama’ in DN III:iv 295: buddie, n. Applied to any small boy whose name is not known. Also used as a familiar name for the oldest brother. I still call my oldest brother Buddie.
[US]S. Ford Side-stepping with Shorty 10: But say, Buddy; you tell Mr. Dawes that next time he wants me just to pull the string.
[UK]R.D. Paine Fighting Fleets 323: W-hat yo’ reckon d-dese yere Germans aimin’ to do, b-buddy?
[US]H.C. Witwer Smile A Minute 172: Believe me, buddy, we’ll make them babies pay triple for everything they done!
[US]P. & T. Casey Gay-cat 12: Dimes every time. No nickels. Dimes, buddie, and most like a quarter or a half.
[US]W.R. Burnett Little Caesar (1932) 149: Turn your back, Buddy [...] and march straight ahead of me.
[US]C.B. Yorke ‘Snowbound’ in Gangster Stories Oct. n.p.: ‘What’s your name, buddy?’.
[US]J. Weidman What’s In It For Me? 111: ‘The next stop, buddy,’ he said grimly, ‘is the New Bedford.’.
[US]Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 238: You’d have a right to ask, buddy.
[US]H. Simmons Corner Boy 181: Buddy, you better be careful, real, real careful.
[US]N. Heard Howard Street 113: Yeah, Hip ol’ buddy, gimme a quarter.
[US]D. Goines Street Players 199: You got change, buddy?
[US]C. Hiaasen Skin Tight 26: You get some rest, buddy.
[UK]Guardian G2 31 May 23: Is that what you’re trying to tell me — buddy, my friend — that my girl was a hooker.
[Aus]P. Temple Dead Point (2008) [ebook] Piss off. See ya, boddy.
[US]G. Pelecanos Shame the Devil 112: C’mon with it, little buddy. That all you got?
[US]D.R. Pollock Devil All the Time 192: Carl looked around [...] ‘Shit, buddy, it’s just a dump’.
[SA]IOL Cape Western News (SA) 14 Feb. 🌐 Perhaps you should catch a wake-up buddy.

2. (orig. US, also buddy-cat, buddy-roo) a friend, an acquaintance.

[WI] in Trinidad Sentinel 8 Apr. n.p.: Den me buddy cum yerry backra chark – me bin shake – me hart go bip! bip! bip!
[US]Number 1500 Life In Sing Sing 246: Buddy. Companion.
[US]Wash. Times (DC) 5 Oct. 5/5: Some fellers who call themselves ‘mah buddies’ was shooting some one-cent-a-throw craps.
[US]C. McKay Home to Harlem 287: Youse a punk customer, then, I tell you [...] and no real buddy o’ mine.
[US]R. Chandler ‘Spanish Blood’ in Spanish Blood (1946) 12: We went to school together. We used to be buddies.
[US]Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 16: I told him about my buddy Sullivan back in Chicago.
[US]J.D. Salinger Catcher in the Rye (1958) 20: He told us we ought to think of Jesus as our buddy. [Ibid.] 32: Be a buddy. Be a buddyroo.
[US]Kerouac On The Road (1972) 11: His boyhood buddies, his street buddies, his innumerable girls.
[US]‘Lord Buckley’ Hiparama of the Classics 17: He was my buddy-cat, and he leveled with me.
[US]M. Braly Shake Him Till He Rattles (1964) 39: He palled around with a buddy named ‘Droopy’ Pearson.
[US]G.V. Higgins Friends of Eddie Coyle 14: We’re old buddies and all, Eddie.
[UK]A-Team Storybook 42: Big Mack ordered [...] seven orders of French fries for his teddybear buddy.
[US]Tarantino & Avery Pulp Fiction [film script] 119: ‘Who ya callin’? ‘A buddy of mine in Toluca Lake.’.
[US]P. Roth Human Stain 65: One day he’s door-gunning in Vietnam, seeing choppers explode, in midair, seeing his buddies explode.
[UK]M. Rowson Stuff 31: The nauseating Yank brat says to his Japanese buddy, ‘You speak good English’.
[UK]K. Richards Life 331: Their buddies in Rhode Island wanted to lock us up.
[SA]IOL Cape Western News (SA) 14 Feb. 🌐 Take a walk fat boy [...] Take your buddy with the mould on his chin with you.

3. (W.I./UK black teen) a sexual partner.

[US]B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular 38: buddy (euphem) the homosexual love-mate of a man.

4. (US/W.I.) the penis.

[UK]N. Farki Countryman Karl Black 62: One of them was standing over the old man face with him buddy in him hand [...] The man say that by the time he reach up to the bus stop, the boys disappear and Daddy swallowed all the piss.
[WI]Francis-Jackson Official Dancehall Dict. 7: Buddy the penis.

In derivatives

buddy-o (n.) (also buddy-roe, buddy-roo) [-o sfx (1)]

(US) an affectionate or ironic term of address.

[US]N. Algren Man with the Golden Arm 13: It’s just this simple, buddy-o.
[US]J.D. Salinger Catcher in the Rye (1958) 32: Be a buddy. Be a buddyroo.
[US](con. 1950) E. Frankel Band of Brothers 5: Buddy-roe, you talked me into it.
[UK]R. Frede Entry E (1961) 108: You fascinate me, buddy-o.
[US]C. Himes Blind Man with a Pistol (1971) 40: Well, buddy-o, you can’t overlook the fact the main ain’t got no pants.
[US]P. Conroy Great Santini (1977) 423: No offense, Ben, buddy-roo.

In compounds

buddy boy (n.)

(orig. US) a friend, usu. in a negative or ironic use; esp. as a term of address.

[US]Laurents & Sondheim West Side Story I i: Maybe buddy boy should get the prize.
[US]C. Himes Run Man Run (1969) 119: I just want to see the show, buddy boy.
[US]V.E. Smith Jones Men 88: We can come up with enough dope to fill this fucking car, buddy boy.
[Aus]T. Winton That Eye, The Sky 140: I was in the nick. Remember, buddy-boy?
buddy-cat (n.)

see sense 2 above.

buddy-gee (n.) (also buddy-ghee) [gee n.3 (1)]

(US black) a friend, a man.

[US]Cab Calloway New Hepsters Dict. in Calloway (1976) 253: buddy ghee (n.): fellow.
[US]Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 218: Hey buddy ghee, why don’t you put it with me and we’ll cop a deuceways.
[US]Wentworth & Flexner DAS 68/1: buddy gee A young man.
buddy sex (n.)

(US gay) hedonistic sexual intercourse without committment.

[US]Allecto ‘Buddy Fuck’ 🌐 Fucking Nick turned out to be the best buddy sex Wade had ever had. When they were together, it was quick and hot and dirty and completely commitment free.