Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (also gov, old guv) a general term of address, usu. to someone seen as superior or to one actually higher in the social order.

1891		Licensed Victuallers’ Gazette 9 Jan. n.p.: It was mortifying to be done in that manner by a low fellow like Muggins, that I had always looked upon as a fool, and had made a butt of when the guv. was out of the way [F&H].
1893		H. Lawson ‘The English Ne’er-Do-Well’ in Roderick (1967–9) I 236: He ‘tapped the guv’ for money and disgraced his father’s name.
1893		P.H. Emerson Signor Lippo 40: Thanks, old guv., but I ain’t used up yet.
1901		Marvel XV:386 Mar. 10: Quiet, guv. It’s me – Ned Chivers.
1912		E. Pugh City Of The World 218: ’Alf a mo, guv.
1920		Marvel 11 Sept. 13: Dat’s de arrangement, old guv.
1942		Whizzbang Comics 76: ‘Finished for the day?’ asked Don. ‘Practically, guv,’ he said cheerfully.
1953		J. Franklyn Cockney 259: The bus inspector will be called guv’ner [...] The pronunciation varies: gubner, gunner, gumner, and as often as not, in simple abbreviation, guv.
1959		F. Durbridge A Time of Day (1989) 89: ‘Not all the way, guv.,’ said the driver.
1962		F. Norman Guntz 6: I hope so too, guv.
1970		G.F. Newman Sir, You Bastard 71: So, so, Guv. Picking up a few.
1970		R. Fabian Anatomy of Crime 192: Screw the cashes, Guv.
1977		(con. 1940s) O. Manning Danger Tree 149: Speck you’re right, guv.
1982		Beano 3 July 8: Spare 10p for a saucer of milk, guv?
1992		E. St Aubyn ‘Never Mind’ in Some Hope (1994) 47: The grateful cabbie and the assiduous porter, both calling him ‘Guv’ simultaneously.
1992		V. Headley Yardie 107: It’s a good tip, gov.
1999		Observer 4 July 25: Where Michael Howard said ‘not me, guv’, at least Straw says ‘sorry, guv’.
2002		M. Coles More Bible in Cockney 33: Only you can answer that, Guv!
2010		IOL News (Western Cape) 8 July 🌐 It’s the little details that intrigue, like [...] calling the boss ‘Guv’ even if she is a woman.
2018-20		T. Thorne (ed.) ‘Drill Slang Glossary’ at Forensic Linguistic Databank 🌐 Guv - prison officer.

2. one’s father.

1882		‘Thormanby’ Famous Racing Men 71: Recollect [...] how frightened mamma was; and how the guv. tipped me a sov., eh, Mark?
1901		Boy’s Own Paper 24 Aug. 750: Blobley and Jinks, were taken [...] to see ‘Hamlet’ at one of the big London shows by Jinks’ Guv.
1905		Wash. Post 15 Jan. 4/3: The young man of tender years [...] has a vocabulary which would put Webster to shame [...] father is ‘guv.’.

3. a senior figure, the ‘boss’.

1950		C. Harris Three-Ha’Pence to the Angel 25: The guv switched off.
1966		B. Reckord Skyvers III i: You the stooge and Brook the guv. All your life.
2006		B. Matthews Intractable [ebook] The Guv [i.e. prison governor] was a little fat toad with porcine eyes that darted everywhere.