Green’s Dictionary of Slang

the ideal lover, husband, wife, boy- or girlfriend for anyone so searching; also used ironically.

1841		Comic Almanack Jan. 255: She’d once a quiver-full of beaus; / Old, young, short, tall, dark, light [...] But never Mister Right.
1860		G.A. Sala Baddington Peerage 310: I suppose I’m not the Mr. Right of her affections, and that she doesn’t like me .
1891		Kipling Light that Failed 164: Couldn’t you take and live with me till Miss Right comes along?
1922		Joyce Ulysses 352: Till Mr Right comes along then meet once in a blue moon. [Ibid.] 610: In the nature of single blessedness he would one day take unto himself a wife when Miss Right came on the scene.
1943		F. Bason Diary I (1950) 112: We are happy together and [...] will remain together till Miss Right blows along my path.
1945		A. Kober Parm Me 9: She was waiting until ‘Mr. Right,’ as she put it, came along.
1954		J. Steinbeck Sweet Thursday (1955) 109: I got him staked out for Miss Right.
1960		B. Kops Dream of Peter Mann Act I: When Mr Right comes along, I’ll know all right.
1960		J. Havoc Early Havoc 261: Some day Mr Right will come along. He’ll be rich.
1960		Galton & Simpson ‘The Reunion Party’ Hancock’s Half-Hour [TV script] I shall probably do it myself, you know, when Miss Right comes along.
1971		F.J. Hardy Outcasts of Foolgarah (1975) 20: I do believe the little Pommy is Mister Right for Winnie.
1975		‘P.B. Yuill’ Hazell and the Three-card Trick (1977) 43: Where the hell was Miss Right?
1977		G. Melly Rum, Bum and Concertina (1978) 45: I suspected that [...] she was saving herself for Lieutenant Right.
1978		A. Maupin Tales of the City (1984) 57: There are other people in the world besides Mr Right.
1985		S. Berkoff West in Decadence and Other Plays (1985) 131: You birds have scored into your head / some geezer all identikit / a mister right.
1988		J. Healy Grass Arena (1990) 117: I’m not looking for Miss Right, lads.
1992		K. Lette Llama Parlour 12: She truly believed there was a bloke out there for every girl. And that one day I’d meet my Mr Right.
2000		N. Barlay Crumple Zone 41: Those guys, the trail of mister rights, who came in and went out and then had to wait for a lift.
2000		Guardian Guide 12–18 Feb. 95: Holding out for Miss Perfect may mean missing out on Miss Right.
2011		D. Telegraph (Sydney) 15 Dec. 🌐 Women searching for Mr Right look away now. The ‘perfect’ man [...] does not exist.
2012		T. Piccirilli Last Kind Words 86: [T]he girl with the cool blue eyes and the slow smile wasn’t really turning it on because you might be Mr. Right.
2017		V. McDermid Insidious Intent (2018) 50: ‘It’s not that he’s Mr Right [...] But he made me realise that you’re Mr Wrong’.
2023		F. Bill Back to the Dirt 19: ‘We’re not looking for Mr. Right in this place, only here to get paid’.