Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. constr. with a, oneself, e.g. a fellow ought to get drunk once in a while.

1815		D. Roberts Military Adventures of Johnny Newcome II 42: Such bl-st-d roads will make a fellow crazy!
1844		‘Jonathan Slick’ High Life in N.Y. I 37: A noise that was enough to make a feller’s teeth jump out of his head.
1857		T. Hughes Tom Brown’s School-Days (1896) 270: It’s deuced hard that when a fellow’s really trying to do what he ought, his best friends’ll do nothing but chaff him.
1863		G.W. Whitman in Civil War Letters 16 Aug. 102: We have had full accounts of the procedings [sic] of the mob in New York, and its almost enough to make a fellow ashamed of being a Yorker.
1870		Old Hunks in Darkey Drama 5 44: If it was on’y a grocery now [...] a fellow could collar de stock!
1886		M.E. Kennard Girl in the Brown Habit I 15: It makes a fellow long for a real good bit of stuff.
1897		Boy’s Own Paper 6 Nov. 86: Just you shut up now, and let a fellow go to sleep.
1912		E. Pugh Harry The Cockney 159: Can’t you listen to a fellow when he is talking sense?
1928		Hecht & MacArthur Front Page 61: Jesus! Why didn’t you tell a fellow!
1939		J. Steinbeck Grapes of Wrath (1951) 344: A fella got to eat.
1961		‘Frank Richards’ Billy Bunter at Butlins 83: I say, you fellows, don’t hike off while a fellow’s talking to you!

2. a person, male or female.

1841		Dickens Old Curiosity Shop (1999) 264: Sally found you a second-hand stool, sir [...] She’s a rare fellow at a bargain, I can tell you.
1866		Wild Boys of London I 151/1: Ikey Bob was good at kicking, and, having on a thick boot with a toe-plate, he punished a fellow’s shins to any extent.
1892		Dundee, Perth [,,,] People’s Jrnl 6 Aug. 3/5: ‘Violet’ talks of ‘fellows’ and it sounds decidedly vulgar.
1951		C. Stoker Thicker ’n Thieves 269: ‘Had no idea she was a whore. Every time I came to town after that, I’d look her up and go out with her. I thought she was a swell fellow’.
1984		B. Ellem Doing Time 111: I did a few years with him, and he’s a top fella.

3. (also felly) one’s husband or regular male partner.

1887		Lantern (N.O.) 9 July 3: My feller tells me that Watermeyer [...] is looking for a fuss.
1903		H. Hapgood Autobiog. of a Thief 59: I was Mamie’s first ‘fellow’.
1905		H.G. Wells Kipps (1952) 51: It is not quite the thing to walk abroad with a ‘feller’, much more to ‘spoon’ with him.
1936		‘Banjo’ Paterson Shearer’s Colt 125: I know the little felly.
2001		Eve. Standard mag. 23 Feb. 42: My fella was impressing me, picking winners and accumulating wodges of crumpled fivers.

4. (US gay) a lesbian.

1968		J. Colebrook Cross of Lassitude 103: I can walk in silk stockings if I want – it don’t make me any less a feller!
1972		B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular 70: any gay woman [...] fellow.

5. (US gay) an effeminate homosexual.

1972

B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular 73: stereotype effeminate homosexual [...] fellow (hetero sl).