Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(a) a woman’s husband.

c.1686		D’Urfey ‘Roger’s Renown’ in Ebsworth Roxburghe Ballads (1893) VII:1 236: My Old Man is most unkind, he won’t do what he’s able / [...] / Ah! happy should I be indeed, if he was but as brisk as Roger.
1768		L. Sterne Sentimental Journey (1802) 186: His wife [...] join’d her old man again, as their children and grandchildren danced before them .
1770		Foote Lame Lover in Works (1799) II 89: It is my husband himself that I embrace, it is my little old man that I kiss!
1829		‘Female Husband’ in C. Hindley Curiosities of Street Lit. (1871) 119: Well, Mother Frisky, how is your old man?
1843		R. Carlton New Purchase I 62: ‘He’s your old man, mam?’ Mrs. C assented.
1856		G.J. Whyte-Melville Kate Coventry 169: Mr. Lumley himself, or, as the old lady of the house termed him, ‘her old man.’.
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 101/1: On hearing this speech Joe muttered something that was rather derogatory to Mrs Dunn’s character, but his ‘moll’ didn’t like it and ‘beefed’ out: ‘What do you know about my old man?’.
1883		Eve. Star (Wash., DC) 17 Mar. 6/3: Yum-yum — don’t let on to the old man if he comes in.
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 14 Feb. 6/1: She must write for the papers, she says, when her old man’s name in the whole of his dominions is not good enough for a sixpenny drink.
1888–94		‘Walter’ My Secret Life (1966) II 260: My old man will be waiting for me.
1896		M. Williams Round London 44: When you’ve done so, just you come back and polish off my old man. Give him a good hiding.
1900		‘Doss Chiderdoss’ ‘An Ungrateful “Missis”’ in Sporting Times 25 Aug. 1/4: The old girl’s ungrateful to me, her old man, / Says I’m one of the indolent breed.
1903		J. London People of the Abyss 157: I descended to the semi- subterranean kitchen, and talked with her and her old man.
1905		Harrington & LeBrunn [perf. Marie Lloyd] You’re a thing of the past, old dear 🎵 You’ve got your old man at home, and I’ve got none.
1912		B. Fisher Mutt & Jeff 14 Mar. [synd. cartoon] Hurry it up Doc, my old man has gone off his nut.
1926		Van Vechten Nigger Heaven 156: How’s your old man or what have you?
1937		E. Anderson Thieves Like Us (1999) 193: Show your old man you got it in you.
1937		E. Garnett Family from One End Street 140: ‘Well, Old Man,’ said Rosie, as she kissed her husband ‘good night’.
1941		K. Tennant Battlers 84: Mrs. Tyrell asked after Snow, to whom the stray referred as ‘me old man in hospital’.
1949		N. Algren Man with the Golden Arm 129: Shamed myself, you never met Old Man.
1959		J. Osborne World of Paul Slickey Act I: Her old man was furious about it.
1969		‘Iceberg Slim’ Pimp 65: A fast hustler [...] saw a chance to trim Pepper’s old man out of a bundle.
1972		(con. 1960s) D. Goines Whoreson 248: If you’re not afraid of someone telling your old man about us being together.
1981		S. Berkoff Decadence in Decadence and Other Plays (1985) 9: Your old man’s sticking his nasty in some horrible birds.
1999		E. Bunker Mr Blue 299: She was from Detroit, and her ‘old man’ was doing six months in the local jail.

(b) (also man) the penis.

1732		Delightful Adventures of Honest John Cole 22: Now honest John Cole, / Has got a black Hole, / For himself or his Man to creep into, / Let him pull up his Strength / With his Man at full length, / For his Marriage has made it no sin to.
1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.
1907		C. Prendergast Sadopaideia 2: My old man began to suggest that more might be intended. At last I felt what seemed a deliberate pressure of her thigh against my left trouser.
1971		(con. WWII) B. Aldiss Soldier Erect 43: You want to stay away from bibis unless you want your old man dropping off!
1983		(con. 1940s–60s) Hogbotel & ffuckes ‘Christopher Robin’ in More Snatches and Lays 87: Little boy sits on the lavatory pan / Gently caressing his little old man.
2002		D. Shaw ‘Dead Beard’ at www.asstr.org 🌐 Not that I care, my old man is starting to strain at every nerve and having Monica clocking all the action is really putting me into the mood for a friar tuck.

(c) a father.

1811		in N.E. Eliason Tarheel Talk (1956) 167: There is one thing above all others that the old man enjoins you.
1840		T. Haliburton Letter-bag of the Great Western (1873) 186: Something must be done, or the old man will play the devil with me when I return.
1855		T. Haliburton Nature and Human Nature I 117: Here’s the old man a goin’ to give you another walloping.
1866		J. Greenwood Little Ragamuffin 147: My old man is on my tracks, and I’m off.
1876		Besant & Rice Golden Butterfly III 46: I was the prodigal son without the riotous livin’ – and found the old man gone, leavin’ his blessin’.
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 9 May 5/4: He is a skilful shepherd, planting his antipodean footsteps opposite to, but on a similar basis with, the old man’s at home.
1898		Binstead & Wells Pink ’Un and Pelican 151: ‘Who keeps the old man in cat-lap?’ Robert was rather hazy as to which particular dairy [...] supplied the milk for his father’s household.
1900–01		H. Lawson ‘House that was Never Built’ in Roderick (1972) 428: I suppose the boys will soon be talking of getting ‘fivers’ and ‘tenners’ out of the ‘guvner’ or ‘old man’.
1914		H. Lawson ‘A Reconnoitre with Benno’ in Roderick (1972) 835: The ‘old man’ had had a much harder, sterner bringing-up than we.
1914		T.A. Dorgan Indoor Sports 23 Mar. [synd. cartoon] If that’s Schmalz’s son he’s a bad egg — I knew his old man too well.
1923		D. Hammett ‘Second-Story Angel’ in Nightmare Town (2001) 221: It was a choice of cashing in on what the old man and Frank had taught me or going on the streets.
1930		N. Lindsay Redheap (1965) 148: ‘Cripes! Here’s your old man’.
1931		D. Runyon ‘Bloodhounds of Broadway’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 91: He has plenty of scratch which comes down to him from his old man.
1935		Thieves Slang ms list from District Police Training Centre, Ryton-on-Dunsmore, Warwicks 7: Old man: Father.
1948		(con. 1944) N. Mailer Naked and Dead 465: What a dumb Polack his old man had been.
1955		P. Rabe Benny Muscles In (2004) 269: And he didn’t say father, really, he said old man.
1966		P. Willmott Adolescent Boys of East London (1969) 67: I get on better with my mother than my old man.
1971		D. Goines Dopefiend (1991) 76: I suppose you would like for your old man to be more like your boyfriend.
1985		R.G. Barrett You Wouldn’t Be Dead for Quids (1989) 93: ‘I’ll be down to see you next week.’ ‘Fair dinkum? [...] You gonna bring the old man?’.
1989		C. Hiaasen Skin Tight 287: What he told me, his old man was with the Romanian underground.
1996		J. Byrell Lairs, Urgers & Coat-Tuggers 81: [T]hat night he lost his cherry in the back of the old man’s Holden down at Woolloomooloo.
1999		K. Sampson Powder 16: Guy felt bad about his old man.
2000		J.J. Connolly Layer Cake 7: Old Man Clark and the elder brothers have given up robbing banks.
2006		B. Matthews Intractable [ebook] [A] crim who had learnt to box when they were just a dirty thought in their old man’s mind.
2006		D. Winslow Winter of Frankie Machine (2007) 63: The old man was old school. You get a job, you work hard, you get married, you support your family, end of story.
2010		(con. 1973) C. Stella Johnny Porno 28: You sure your old man isn’t Italian?
2013		K. Sampson Killing Pool 6: The old man has been terrific [...] and I’m going to make my dad proud of me .

(d) (also old son) a general greeting or form of address given to a man (usu. one whom one knows), occas. to a woman; note cit. 1856.

1854		F. Smedley Harry Coverdale’s Courtship 12: Markum, lend us a fin, old man, for I feels precious staggery-like, I can tell you.
1856		F.L. Olmsted A Journey in the Seaboard Slave States 207: ‘Well, now, old man,’ said I, ‘you go and cut me two cords to-day.’ ‘Oh, Marsa! two cords! Nobody couldn do dat.’ [footnote] ‘Old Man’ is a common title of address to any middle-aged negro in Virginia, whose name is not known. ‘Boy’ and ‘Old Man’ may be applied to the same person [DA].
1866		H.L. Williams Gay Life in N.Y. 66: Hullo, old man! What’ll you drink?
1877		Five Years’ Penal Servitude 244: Blowed, old man, if we don’t go to Paris.
1888		‘Rolf Boldrewood’ Robbery Under Arms (1922) 17: Good-bye, George, old man. I’m sorry we can’t wire in with you.
1897		Boy’s Own Paper 6 Nov. 89: Here you are then, old man.
1900		J. Conrad Lord Jim 151: On that occasion the sort of formality that had been present in our intercourse vanished from our speech; I believe I called him ‘dear boy,’ and he tacked on the words ‘old man’ to some half-uttered expression of gratitude, as though his risk set off against my years has made us more equal in age and in feeling.
1905		‘Broken-down Squatter’ in ‘Banjo’ Paterson Old Bush Songs 56: But the farce has been played, and the Government aid, / Ain’t extended to squatters, old son.
1911		Gem 23 Sept. 8: Oh, I’ll come, Manners, old man!
1919		‘Sapper’ Mufti 95: Beg your pardon, old man.
1920		‘Sapper’ Bulldog Drummond 121: It seems to me, old son, that you’re running an unneccessary lot of risk.
1922		Joyce Ulysses 234: Hello, Simon, Father Cowley said. How are things? – Hello, Bob, old man, Mr Dedalus answered, stopping.
1930		K. Brush Young Man of Manhattan 293: How are you, old man.
1934		(con. 1920s) J.T. Farrell Young Manhood in Studs Lonigan (1936) 387: Dolan walked up and thanked Studs, calling him old man.
1936		D. Footman Pig and Pepper (1990) 228: Old man, I’m a crook.
1939		V. Davis Gentlemen of the Broad Arrows 111: Drink this, old man.
1945		G. Fairlie Capt. Bulldog Drummond 23: Help yourself, old man.
1946		K. Amis letter 30 July in Leader (2000) 81: Congrats, old son.
1953		K. Amis letter 22 Sept. in Leader (2000) 339: Whang in the gold, old son, whang in the gold.
1954		Wodehouse Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit 26: Still here, old man.
1955		D. Niland Shiralee 208: That’s all right, old man.
1961		M. Braly Felony Tank (1962) 49: I don’t see where you’re in such hot shape yourself, old man.
1962		A. Wesker Chips with Everything I ii: Look old son, you’re going to have me for eight painful weeks in the same hut.
1963		(con. 1944) L. Glassop Rats in New Guinea 203: You amaze me, old man.
1971		Wodehouse Much Obliged, Jeeves 31: Nice to have seen you, Wooster, old man.
1977		G.F. Newman A Prisoner’s Tale 140: ‘Now look, old son,’ the chief inspector said in a man-to-man tone.
1986		F. Taylor Auf Wiedersehen Pet Two 146: I wouldn’t do that, old son.
1988		Viz Oct./Nov. 29: This isn’t a village, Pete old man.
1999		Guardian G2 3 Aug. 3: Not at all bad, old son, not bad at all.

(e) (US) a pimp.

1948		Dan Burley ‘Back Door Stuff’ 6 Nov. [synd. col.] No chick can be forced to stay with one ‘old man’ unless said old man has a known background of getting said chick out of jail.
1963		in T.I. Rubin Sweet Daddy 43: Take a pross [...] she gives it to her old man – guys like me.
1971		Winick & Kinsie Lively Commerce 40: ‘My old man’ is a pimp.
1986–7		Maledicta IX 150: The original argot of prostitution includes some words and phrases which have gained wider currency and some which have not […] old man (pimp).

(f) (Can./US) a boyfriend or lover, incl. a homosexual one.

1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn) 165: old man [...] main squeeze.
1966		Trimble 5000 Adult Sex Words and Phrases.
1970		G. Cain Blueschild Baby 15: [to a woman] ‘I’m your old man, ain’t I your old man. Baby don’t do this to me. Wake up baby’.
1976		Edwardsville Intelligencer (IL) 30 Mar. 2/3: Passive homosexuals are known as ‘fags’ [...] Their aggressive counterparts are called ‘daddies,’ or ‘old men,’ sometimes ‘jockers’ in the state institutions.
1983		N. Heard House of Slammers 14: Sister, did you see the fish line today? [...] They brought back my ex-old man, honey.
1984		W.D. Myers Outside Shot 50: I bet you got an old man?’ ‘No, I guess not’ .
1990		J. Wambaugh Golden Orange (1991) 78: My old son hasn’t had a meal lately.
1997		(con. c.1915) D.H. Edwards The Word Don’t Owe Me Nothing 2: My mother had another old man before they got together but she wasn't married to him.

(a) (orig. US) any senior figure, the boss, a commanding officer; a headmaster.

1823		J.F. Cooper Pilot (1824) II 130: We must get them both off [...] before the old man takes it into his wise head to leave the coast.
1837		Southern Literary Messenger III 86: I say, darkie, the old man keeps good liquor, and plenty of belly timber, don’t he? [DA].
1844		J.C. Neal Peter Ploddy and Other Oddities 131: All superiors are ‘old men,’ in modern phraseology, and our standing is measured by rank, not years.
1851		‘Doing a Sheriff’ in T.A. Burke Polly Peablossom’s Wedding 99: Ef I don’t, the old man (the judge) will give me goss when I go back.
1858		C. Abbey diary 12 Dec. in Gosnell Before the Mast (1989) 127: I wish the ‘Old Man’ (i.e. the Captain) would come out of the cabin.
1865		T. Archer Pauper, Thief and Convict 138: The proprietor (known here as the guv’ner, or more frequently as ‘the old man,’ ‘governor’ having, after all, a disagreeable association).
1873		W.H. Thomes Slaver’s Adventures 57: The old man has lost his spunk; he isn’t the skipper that he was five years since.
1883		W.C. Russell Sailors’ Lang. xi: But the lack of variety is no obstruction to the sailor’s poetical inspiration when he wants the old man to know his private opinions without expressing them to his face.
1893		S. Crane Maggie, a Girl of the Streets (2001) 59: Yeh’ll git me inteh trouble wid deh ol’ man an’ dey’ll be hell teh pay!
1898		E.S. Mott Mingled Yarn 114: The Old Man was simply a terror to any civilized community. Of Falstaifian build, possessing an unbounded capacity of swallow, always gay, always jesting .
1899–1900		C.L. Cullen Tales of the Ex-Tanks 120: The old man of my firm in Omaha heard about it.
1901		Boy’s Own Paper 30 Mar. 402: There is no skipper in the Greenland seas like our old man!
1914		‘Ian Hay’ Lighter Side of School Life 9: [of a headmaster] It’s a treat to see the way the old man keeps B and C up to the collar.
1918		L.N. Smith Lingo of No Man’s Land 60: OLD MAN Universal term of affection for the Colonel of the regiment.
1922		‘J.H. Ross’ Mint (1955) 36: The veriest recruit knew that ‘old man’ was the Commandant.
1926		P. White ‘A Circus List’ in AS I:5 282: Governor—The manager, or ‘Old Man’ of the circus.
1930		(con. 1910s) L. Nason A Corporal Once 49: ‘Old Man is hit!’ he thought, but the major still stayed in the saddle.
1935		A.J. Pollock Und. Speaks n.p.: Old man, the big underworld boss; boss politician.
1943		Sydney Morn. Herald 11 Dec. 7/3: When he appears before his commanding officer in answer to a charge he is ‘heeled up to front the Old Man’.
1946		(con. 1912) B. Marshall George Brown’s Schooldays 38: [of a headmaster] The Old Man never beats anyone before they’ve changed into footer togs.
1953		T. Runyon In For Life 193: The Old man didn’t look very timid [...] A convict wanting to take advantage of him should be on his toes.
1962		E. Stephens Blow Negative! 179: He thought the Old Man was pulling his leg.
1973		B.S. Johnson All Bull 95: Bloody well get out and dress, the Old Man is waiting.
1981		M. Baker Nam (1982) 111: The Old Man’s down there and he’s real lean and mean, about forty-five.
1989		(con. 1982–6) T. Williams Cocaine Kids (1990) 123: He worried about pressure from the ‘old man,’ his connection.

(b) in cards, the King.

1887

G. Devol Forty Years a Gambler 166: I will bet you $1,000 that I can turn up the old man the first time.

(c) (US, also Old Bloke) God.

1906		O.W. Hanley ‘Dialect Words From Southern Indiana’ in DN III:ii 122: Old Man, n. Used commonly for the deity.
1918		B. Hall ‘En l’air!’ 166: When they [i.e. aviators] saw what they were up against they got cold feet [...] Once you see that old man with the long white whiskers looking you in the face, you sure do some thinking .
1920		E. Blair in College Days (Eton) 4 1 Apr. in Complete Works X (1998) 65: [They] were rowing away down stream in a long thin coracle as if the Old Man himself was after them.
1931		D.M. Garrison ‘Oilfield Idyls’ in Botkin Folk-Say 144: I’ve made it right with the Old Man, yes sir, and He ain’t the kind to hold a grudge.
1953		T. Williams Camino Real Block Twelve: kilroy: The Old Man? esmerelda: God.
1958		R. Ward Aus. Legend 98: Yes, the Old Bloke makes a good job of them [i.e. sunsets] up this way.
1991		(con. 1920s) O.D. Brooks Legs 100: ‘I tell you that old guy up there’s been dusting us all night, flakes bigger’n thumbnails.’ [...] ‘You’re right,’ I said. ‘Old man’s been busy all right.’.