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’.

1895		Mirror of Life 13 Apr. 6/1: [H] had retired to the rear [...] when his guv'nor made his appearance on the scene of operations. Dick was so alarmed by the advent of his ‘guv.’ that he emptied the contents of the bottle down the lavatory.
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.