Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (also govnor, guvner) a boss, an important, influential person (often used for a public house landlord).

1838		Dickens Pickwick Papers 302/1: He is sure your guvner won't object of course he vill not Sammy.
1839		in Bentley’s Misc. (US edn) Mar. 363: ‘Is the guv’ner consarned in this job?’ asked Terence, in a whisper.
1845		J. Lindridge Sixteen-String Jack 143: I am the representative of the Count Chantrais, so lead the way to the guv’ner, old frizzle.
1847		A. Smith Natural History of the Gent 5: The guvner give a fippun note for that little mare.
1848		‘Ned Buntline’ Mysteries and Miseries of N.Y. II 67: I’ll see that he calls on your gov’nor!
1856		C. Reade It Is Never Too Late to Mend 1 158: ‘I say guv’nor,’ said he to the under-turnkey.
1870		London & Provincial Entr’acte 1 Oct. 6/2: We only come to do the guv’nor a turn.
1879		G.R. Sims Dagonet Ballads 2: Give it us straight now, guv’nor—what would you have me do?
1879		London Life 7 June 6/1: [T]he guv’or [...] who, providing the coin keeps rolling into the till, cares not a jot about the presents his ‘ladies’ [i.e. barmaids] cater for [or] the assignations they make.
1890		Sporting Times 8 Feb. 5/5: ‘Now, my man, I will give you three shillings a day and three pints to pull me about.’ ‘I’m your man, guvnor.’.
1894		A. Morrison Tales of Mean Streets (1983) 132: You send the guv’nor to me if ’e says anythink.
1903		A.H. Lewis Boss 314: You’re too late, Gov’nor.
1904		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 27 Jan. 3/4: Smith, who got the ‘splosh’ from his ‘guv’nor’ to take up the property.
1903		A. Binstead Pitcher in Paradise 50: If the guv’nor hadn’t been seen into a cab on the spot [...] there was no telling where he mightn’t call in.
1911		Gem 16 Sept. 1: Yes, guv’nor.
c.1921		T. Norman Penny Showman 15: So you did, guvnor, was the reply.
1938		J.B. Booth Sporting Times 38: It’s all right guv’nor [...] Stop a bit and let me show it.
1938		J. Curtis They Drive by Night 68: Edwards was sycophantically trying to think fast and show the guv’nor what a bright boy he was.
1941		V. Davis Phenomena in Crime 55: In the underworld he was called the ‘Guv’nor’.
1955		B. Hill Boss of Britain’s Underworld 31: [of a senior police officer] If you’re nicked the guv’nor of the manor invariably tried to clear his books by getting you to plead guilty to a dozen other jobs.
1956		J. Curtis Look Long Upon a Monkey 38: I’m the guv’nor and the guv’nor gives the orders.
1965		H.S. Thompson letter 23 June in Proud Highway (1997) 527: Sho nuff. The Guvnah said so.
1967		N. Dunn Poor Cow 41: Joy was left to help the guv’nor lock up.
1976		P. Theroux Family Arsenal 228: You’re the guv’nor now. I’m dead glad it’s you.
1985		S. Berkoff West in Decadence and Other Plays (1985) 105: I see you are the guvnor.
1995		J. Cameron Vinnie Got Blown Away 28: Upped his glass, guvnor gave us both another.
2000		Indep. 10 Jan. 18: ‘Hard men’ whose only claim to fame is their villainy – people called ‘The Guvnor’.
2016		Vanity Fair 16 Mar. 🌐 Reader was called ‘the Gov’nor,’ the leader in British gangster parlance, who, possibly with associates, ‘set it up, enlisted the others, and called the job on’.

2. (also govnor, guvner) a general term of address.

1861		(con. 1840s–50s) H. Mayhew London Labour and London Poor II 41/1: Guv’ner, what’ll you give me to wear that coat for you, and show off your cut?
1869		J. Greenwood Seven Curses of London 106: All right, guv’nor, I ain’t a larfin.
1889		Kipling ‘The History of a Fall’ in Civil & Military Gaz. 23 Nov. (1909) 58: The conductaire cries to loud voice: ‘Fare, Guvnor’.
1890		Bird o’ Freedom 1 Jan. 2/3: She slaps her manager on the back and calls him ‘Guv’nor’.
1896		A. Morrison Child of the Jago (1982) 120: No good, guv’nor [...] The ball’s stopped rollin’.
1901		Marvel XV:378 Feb. 14: I’m sorra a bit, guv’nor.
1910		Sporting Times 1 Jan. 1/4: ‘Can you tell me what town this is, guv’nor?’ ‘Oh, Leatherhead.’ ‘Who are yer callin’ names?’.
1919		‘Sax Rohmer’ Dope 138: ‘’Alf a mo’, guvnor!’ cried the seaman furiously. ‘D’you think I’m going to wait ’ere while you prods about in all the blasted lot?’.
1920		‘Sapper’ Bulldog Drummond 198: Don’t kick him when he’s down guv’nor.
1924		S. Scott Human Side of Crook and Convict Life 67: I have seen mild little men, whose only reply to any charge was: ‘’s right, gov’nor’.
1930		(con. 1900s–10s) Dos Passos 42nd Parallel in USA (1966) 71: We’re couple of noblemen sons out for a bit of a bloody lark, guv’ner.
1937		J. Curtis There Ain’t No Justice 34: ‘You’re Tommy Mutch, aren’t you?’ [...] ‘Yes, guv’nor.’.
1944		S. Horler Lady with the Limp 7: ‘Where in hell are we, Benny?’ [...] ‘Search me, guv’nor’.
1953		J. Franklyn Cockney 259: ‘’Scuse me, gubner, wasn’t I in front o’ year?’ [...] The pronunciation varies: gubner, gunner, gumner.
1960		‘Nino Culotta’ Cop This Lot 54: An elderly man entered and said ‘Good evening, guv’nor’.
1966		G. Fletcher Down Among the Meths Men 70: Aw, yes, guvnor, right henough.
1987		B. Chatwin Songlines 276: I’m like the Arctic tern, guv’nor.
1999		Guardian Sport 8 Jan. 16: With all due respects to Incey, for me, this is the guvnor.
2000		M. Manning Get Your Cock Out 22: Strutter himself had even started believing he actually was an archetypal cockney guttersnipe, cor blimey wotcher Guvnor.

3. (also guvner, my/the old guvnor) one’s father.

1841		Punch 24 July I 17: It’s beleaved the old guv’nor can give them ten thowsand lbs. a-peace.
1873		W.H. Thomes Bushrangers 419: Wall, lass, ye see the Pet ain’t yer guv’ner, and never was.
1878		‘’Arry on the Turf’ in Punch 29 Nov. 297/1: My guvnor, he swears he don’t twig, wants to know where the manhood comes in.
1891		H. Lawson ‘At the Tug-of-War’ in Roderick (1967–9) I 115: Put out your muscles, John, / And pull them to eternity — your guvnor’s looking on.
1900–1901		H. Lawson ‘The 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’.
1923		Wodehouse Inimitable Jeeves 83: My jolly old guv’nor wouldn’t stick it at any price.
1946		(con. 1912) B. Marshall George Brown’s Schooldays 5: Never say ‘father’; always say ‘pater’ or ‘guv’nor’.
1947		S.J. Perelman ‘How Sharper Than a Serpent’s Tooth’ in Keep It Crisp 140: Look, guv’nor [...] aw cripes, can I ask you something man to man?
1960		(con. c.1928) D. Holman-Hunt My Grandmothers and I (1987) 164: The old Guvnor knew a thing or two.
1977		D. Powis Signs of Crime 194: My old guv’nor One’s father.
1983		J. Mortimer Rumpole and the Golden Thread 104: The guv’nor put me down for Lawnhurst at birth.