Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. one’s wife.

1898		Binstead & Wells A Pink ’Un and a Pelican 237: Perhaps I put it under [...] along o’ my first old dear.
1943		R. Llewellyn None But the Lonely Heart 99: How’s the old dear?

2. an old person, usu. but not invariably a woman.

[1865		‘Artemus Ward’ Among the Mormons in Complete Works (1922) 254: I was muzzer’s bezzy darlin [...] It was nice, tho’ I wasn’t old enuf to properly appreciate it. I’m a healthy old darlin now].
1899		E.W. Hornung Amateur Cracksman (1992) 45: Lady Margaret told me so this morning [...] and the old dear will wear them every night.
1914		R. Tressell Ragged Trousered Philanthropists (1955) 199: ‘Same again,’ said Easton, addressing the Old Dear.
1918		Butterfly and Firefly 23 Nov. 1: The old dear was quite pleased to see me.
1924		‘Sapper’ Third Round 557: [of a man] What is the old dear doing now?
1938		J. Curtis They Drive by Night 18: You wait till some old dear gets on your nerves mate, then you’ll sing a different tune I shouldn’t wonder.
1945		A. Christie Sparkling Cyanide (1955) 77: If Aunt Lucilla and I ask you – she’s an old dear – you’d like her.
1953		K. Tennant Joyful Condemned 335: I might buy chocolates and oranges for the old dears.
1961		S. Price Just for Record 49: He’d end up coshing some poor old dear on Clapham Common.
1978		P. Theroux Picture Palace 286: London made me feel elderly and genteel, like some brave old dear in bombazine.
1989		(con. 1950s–60s) in G. Tremlett Little Legs 24: These old dears wanted a flutter.
1995		J. Cameron Vinnie Got Blown Away 47: Old dears coming off the market walking home for Saturday dinner.
2000		M. Amis Experience 161: The cashier is a woman, a milky-haired old dear.

3. an affectionate term of address, irrespective of sex.

1905		A. Binstead Mop Fair 79: It’s very sweet of you old dear.
1913		A. Lunn Harrovians 127: Cadby, despite the fact that he often made himself unpleasant at football, was rather an old dear.
1920		‘Sapper’ Bulldog Drummond 168: So long, old dear.
1925		Wodehouse Carry on, Jeeves 56: I know just how you feel, old dear.
1930		E. Glyn Flirt & Flapper 11: Flirt: We knew nothing of sensation — we knew a great deal about emotion. Flapper: Well, what’s the difference, old dear?
1943		Cornishman 28 Jan. 2/5: ‘Who are you, calling me old dear?’ roared the angry voice [...] ‘Me old dear,’ explains Cummings [...] is a Cornish expression used by all impartially to old and young’.

4. (chiefly Irish) one’s mother.

2000		P. Howard Miseducation of Ross O’Carroll-Kelly (2004) 10: They know straight away that it’s a young dude driving his old dear’s cor.
2012		J. Fagan Panopticon (2013) 136: Aye, that’s not what you used to say [...] when your old dear fucking died, ay?