Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a man.

1854		Pioneer Apr. 237: [To] the last war [...] we are indebted [...] for an additional slice of territory and its consequent classical influence upon our language, by the entry of such precious words and phrases, as ‘hombre,’ ‘vamose the ranch,’ ‘pungle’ [DA].
1868		Brudder Bones’s Stump Speeches 56: He never came up the Chagres river in a canoe, with a deaf and dumb ‘hombre’.
1875		Arizona Sentinel (Yuma, AZ) 13 Mar. n.p.: There was a whiskered hombre / Who lived at Santa Cruz.
1898		N.Z. Thames Star 23 July 4/3: They [i.e. bullets] are warranted to make the dervish ‘hombre’ sing dumb-dumb.
1907		C.E. Mulford Bar-20 v: He’s the cussedest hombre I ever saw.
1913–14		Van Loan ‘No Business’ Taking the Count 163: The sheriff is a bad hombre.
1928		J. Callahan Man’s Grim Justice 30: He’s a bad hombre, Jackie, so lay off his broad.
1935		D. Burley Chicago Defender 7 Dec. 17: That terrible combination of hombres around 31st steet called the ‘Royal Eclipse’.
1937		P. Cheyney Dames Don’t Care (1960) 66: They tell me that dames fry just as quick an’ sweet as hombres.
1946		Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 169: They weren’t going to be caught short, no matter how they wound up; not these hombres.
1954		J. Steinbeck Sweet Thursday (1955) 121: I don’t never try to kid a smart hombre.
1966		M. Rumaker Exit 3 and Other Stories 130: I see you’re not of the same cut as these hombres.
1970		‘Red’ Rudensky Gonif 51: The pseudo-realistic portrayals of the bad or would-be-bad hombres is a travesty.
1989		Beano Comic Library No. 182 37: Right, you thievin’ ’ombres – you’re under arrest!
1993		I. Welsh Trainspotting 120: Ah clock Franco [...] talkin tae this big dude, a mean hombre called Lexo.
2002		A. Duff Jake’s Long Shadow 69: I still ended up being a winner, being a leader of a buncha tough hombres.

2. a term of address; thus hombresse, a woman.

1899–1900		C.L. Cullen Tales of the Ex-Tanks 377: ‘Ombrey,’ I said to him, ‘it ’ud give me a sight more satisfaction to just dump you into that pit.’.
1931		‘Stampede’ in T. Goodstone Pulps (1970) 86/1: Climb down, hombres and hombresses, an’ rest for a mite.
1958		E. Gilbert Vice Trap 7: How’s hustling, hombre?
1967		A. Baraka Tales (1969) 8: He’s in med school and married and lost to you, hombre.
1978		(con. WWII) T. Sanchez Hollywoodland (1981) 176: Hey, hombre, you copped her cherry yet?
1987		(con. 1920s) L. Redmond Emerald Square 43: It was a case of ‘Claw sky, hombre’ or be ventilated.
2001		J. Stahl Plainclothes Naked (2002) 17: You got me, hombres? behave your ass in here!
2005		L. Theroux Call of the Weird (2006) 38: Hombre! What’s that?
2009		J. Stahl Pain Killers 270: What’s yoiur name, hombre?

3. (orig. US campus) a male friend.

2001		K. Sampson Outlaws (ms.) 78: He’s not that thrilled about [...] having to let on in front of his Yardie hombres.
2014		Masika ‘The truth’ 🎵 Me buda, faga, warn some hombre.