Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (also joss) a man, a fellow; usu. with old.

1885		‘’Arry on Song & Sentiment’ Punch 14 Nov. 229/1: That Josser, whose name I’ve forgotten, ’ad ’it the right nail on the ’ed.
1895		Hartlepool Mail 26 Jan. n.p.: Dear Bill, my old josser [...] are yer stone-broke and not worth a d.
1899		R. Whiteing No. 5 John Street 255: I bet yer a dollar he’s trying for ‘jossers,’ all the same.
1902		A.N. Lyons Hookey 43: Yesterday, I met a country josser, / And I had him for his watch and chain.
1903		Boden & Pether [perf. Walter Wallis] ‘Fancy Telling Me That’ 🎵 For being a timid shy sort of a joss / I felt strange when I got to the church.
1904		Sun. Times (Perth) 26 June 4/8: I am ‘long-nit’ on these jossers with the black ’ard ’ats.
1910		Sporting Times 1 Jan. 10/4: What do you think the ungrateful josser, who actually preferred to spend Christmas with his own people, wired back?
1911		Truth (Perth) 18 Feb. 8/6: She did crack that she was short, / Saying that the joss who run her, / Never slung it, as he ought.
1916		C.J. Dennis ‘Rabbits’ Moods of Ginger Mick 94: I want it had: I want to git right out / An’ plug some josser in the briskit – ’ard.
1930		K.S. Prichard Haxby’s Circus 203: Do you know what an old josser said to me in Laancoorie.
1939		(con. 1880–90s) S. O’Casey I Knock at the Door 136: On a bank of primroses, sat a grey-beard old josser.
1952		M.F. Caulfield Black City 161: ‘Do you believe in God?’ [...] ‘If you mean some old josser with a lock of hair like old Paderewski’s, then the answer is, I don’t’.
1963		R.L. Finn Time Remembered (1985) 163: The old jossers wree incredulous [...] ‘Gobby’ Evans [...] lover of language, you old Welsh charmer.
1984		Benjamin & Pearl Limericks Down Under 79: Wandering through the Barossa / Was an unprepossessing old josser.
1999		J. Poller Reach 1: Look, first the old ‘josser’, as Joyce has it, is talking about tottie.

2. as a term of address.

1902

Bulletin (Sydney) 29 Nov. 31/1: ‘Out of quod, blokey!’ / ‘Yes, Josser! Lend us a few bob.’.