Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (also geaser, geeser, geyser, gezer, gheeser) a man, a ‘bloke’; occas. a woman.

1880		D.W. Barrett Life and Work Among Navvies 51: I should be greatly obliged if they would [...] tell me why an old-fashioned youth generally gets styled ‘Gezer’.
1884		Ally Sloper’s Half Holiday 21 June 57: Geesers are gals. That is to say, sort of gals. They wear improvers and are commonly supposed to be of the feminine persuasion, but they are not nice.
1887		Bulletin (Sydney) 22 Oct. 8/4: And when I asked him for whom he was a grafting the old cat-headed geyser sed ‘you’.
1889		‘’Arry on the Battle of Life’ in Punch 21 Sept. in P. Marks (2006) 136: Wy [sic], the geesers might just as well ask / If Drink is worth Drinking!
1890		‘’Arry on the ’Oliday Season’ in Punch 16 Aug. 74/1: I was innercent then, a young geeser.
1895		E. Townsend Chimmie Fadden Explains 112: He told me dat dey was two geezers he had given de Mitchell tip to dat afternoon.
1895		Truth (Sydney) 27 Jan. 5/5: We want young Australians in the City Council [...] We’ve had too many old geesers [sic] up till now.
1899		C. Rook Hooligan Nights 40: ‘I’ve ’ad one like it afore to-day,’ she says — the old geezer.
1900		Hants Teleg. 21 Apr. 11/3: But best of all is a ‘geezer,’ I follows ’er up an’ down. / Declarain’ as ’ow I’m desprit an’ she forks out ’arf-a-crown .
1901		Bulletin (Sydney) 21 Dec. 15/1: ’Ere! I say, you silly old gheeser, why don’t you lean on your bloomin’ breath?
1902		‘Billy Burgundy’ Toothsome Tales Told in Sl. 125: There was a geezer with a bell-metal vocal plant.
1905		Marvel III:54 8: Bust that aunt! [...] Can’t you let the old geyser rest?
1909		J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era 187/1: Old geyser (Street). Elderly man.
1910		H.G. Wells Hist. of Mr Polly (1946) 214: You gold-eyed Geezer, you!
1911		‘Sing Sing No. 57,700’ My View on Books in N.Y. Times Mag. 30 Apr. 5/2: Don Quixote [...] The geezer that went with him was a fall-guy for fair.
1913		Truth (Sydney) 7 Sept. 12/4: Girls left on the streets to wander, / Meeting of the Tempter there; / Usually some old geaser, / With a bob or two to spare.
1914		Sport (Adelaide) 3 July 4/1: They Say [...] That The old geyser ought to support local industry.
1914		E. Pugh Cockney At Home 162: I told one old geeser [...] as I was the father o’ five.
1918		‘Sapper’ Human Touch 112: The old geyser’s taken root.
1924		‘Sapper’ Third Round 539: Just because he wants to spout out his footling discovery to a bunch of old geysers at the Royal Society.
1924		Aberdeen Jrnl 10 Sept. 6/3: One of them is a rather decent old geeser as geesers go.
1929		E. Booth Stealing Through Life 296: Kick the big fat geezer there in the face if you have to.
1930		L. Lower Here’s Luck 77: When he does break out and seek to make himself heard, the family merely shrugs its shoulders and murmurs, ‘What’s bitten the old geezer?’ .
1932		(con. WWI) L. Mann Flesh in Armour 195: [of a woman] ‘Oh, we don’t mind going to see the old geezer’.
1934		Dundee Courier 23 Aug. 3/4: The geeser talking to the plain clothes copper is a mouthpiece.
1938		J. Curtis They Drive by Night 13: They always seemed to be topping geezers who’d never seen the inside of a nick before.
1944		(con. 1920s) C. Fluck ‘Bubbles’ of the Old Kent Road 22: The lads meant no offence when they referred to God as the ‘Geyser upstairs’.
1945		J. Maclaren-Ross Swag, the Spy and the Soldier in Lehmann Penguin New Writing No. 26 44: The letter was from a mate of his, geezer called Cohen.
1951		P. Hoskins No Hiding Place! 160: Twas a marvellous fight – while it lasted; / The hopes of the ‘geesers’ truly blasted.
1958		Willans & Searle Complete Molesworth (1985) 364: Constructed by the romans and julius ceasar the silly old geyser.
1959		C. MacInnes Absolute Beginners 158: The next thing we saw the Hoplite with a cheery old geezer who’d obviously had four or five too many.
1964		J. Orton Entertaining Mr Sloane Act II: I thumbs a lift from a geyser who promises me a bed.
1966		P. Willmott Adolescent Boys of East London (1969) 54: I walked into the toilets one day and there were two geezers in there doing it.
1970		T. Parker Frying-Pan 44: Ah, here’s a big geyser, he’ll keep them in line.
1975		D. Nobbs Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin (1976) 63: Who’s the geyser with the boozer’s conk?
1975		J. Roe The Same Old Grind 43: ‘You mean it took the old geezer all the time i was taking a leak to get that far?’.
1976		P. Theroux Family Arsenal 24: The geezer’s offering drinks and all.
1978		A. Burgess 1985 (1980) 148: Get this geezer’s testiculars from CR.
1984		Benjamin & Pearl Limericks Down Under 22: A circus performer of Breeza / Was a notably nimble old geeza.
1989		C. Hiaasen Skin Tight 46: You know how old that geezer is?
1992		G. Disher Paydirt [ebook] ‘[S]ome old geezer’s feeding his sheep’.
1996		J. Cameron It Was An Accident 98: He was a good geezer the doc. The nurse was a good geezer. The lady in reception was a good geezer.
2006		in D. Seabrook Jack of Jumps (2007) 76: She was frightened of the two geezers.
2011		J.J. Connolly Viva La Madness 20: It’s more to do with having heavy geezers look down [...] so as to avoid your gaze.
2012		A. McKinty ‘The Dutch Book’ in Crime Factory: Hard Labour [ebook] A geezer called Harry Parker, an old school mob guy from the ’50s.
2016		Vanity Fair 16 Mar. 🌐 I said, ‘’ere, how does this fucking Bill know about anything?’ recalled Perkins. ‘Bill,’ [Reader] said. ‘[Who’s] Bill?’ I said, ‘the fucking geezer round Kenny’s’.
2024		J. Meades Empty Wigs (t/s) 114: [T]his group of geezers blokes - right? A chapter of The Smiths and Tinkers of The Shining Beztine.

2. (US) an old man, occas. a woman; usu. as old geezer (cf. old geezer ).

1882		J.F. Mitchell ‘Jimmy Johnson’s Holiday’ 🎵 He’d flirt and boat, but never wrote / A note to his old Geezer.
1885		‘Corin’ Truth about Stage 16: If we wake up the old geezers we shall get notice to quit without compensation. The two geezers, as Sandy styled the landlord and his wife.
1887		E.V. Page ‘The Magistrate’ 🎵 It’s nice to be called by him in the dock, / ‘A blooming old geezer’, or perhaps it’s ‘old cock’.
1892		Albert Chevalier ‘Wot Cher!’ 🎵 Last week down our alley come a toff, Nice old geezer with a nasty cough.
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 32: Geeser, the old man or mistress.
1913		J. London Valley of the Moon (1914) 330: The old geezer’s like his orchard – covered with moss.
1926		Wood & Goddard Dict. Amer. Sl. 20: geezer, old. Antique bozo; a dodo; an old dud.
1935		Aberdeen Jrnl 8 May 6/5: What is the difference between an old buffer, an old josser and an old geezer?
1943		R. Brister ‘Rock-a-Bye Booby’ in Ten Detective Aces Sept. 🌐 The old geezer’s dancing was definitely dated.
1953		A. Buckeridge Jennings’ Diary 105: Short-sighted professors and fossilised old geezers.
1963		‘Nino Culotta’ Gone Fishin’ 193: This old geezer conned me.
1971		L. Bangs in Psychotic Reactions (1988) 5: Run here, my towhead grandchillen, and let this geezer dandle you upon his knee.
1991		B. Hamper Rivethead (1992) 82: Even the geezers and the bag ladies got up and pranced.
2000		G. Pelecanos Shame the Devil 233: He nodded to an ancient geezer with a flowing gray beard.
2010		(con. 1973) C. Stella Johnny Porno 291: Billy wasn’t sure of the old man had survived being hit [...] If the geezer woke up suffocating [...] it’d be his own fault for being so nosey.
2020		C. Hiaasen Squeeze Me 29: Some of the town’s richest geezers were avid kleptos.

3. a victim, e.g. of a tramp’s begging or a confidence trickster’s hoax.

1902		Times (Shreveport, LA) 12 May 3/5: The word ‘geezer’ is a term of contempt, the same as [...] ‘guy’.
1905		Little Falls Herald (MN) 31 Mar. 3/3: How to Operate the Shell Game with Profit [...] When the steerer gets the geezer in the push, let the boosters stall until the main plugger cops.
1986–7		Maledicta IX 143: The dolly boys of The Dilly (Piccadilly Circus) who are [...] trolling (U.S. cruising) for customers (geezers, steamers, from rhyming slang ‘steamer tug’ = mug, which is to say victim, or mark).
1991		Dandy Comic Library No. 205 12: A strong easy-to-hypnotise geezer.

4. a term of address.

1910		O. Johnson Varmint 347: Good-by, old geezer!
1997		C. Newland Scholar 139: ‘If you see ’im tell him Sean come to check ’im.’ ‘No problem geezer.’.
2000		Hip-Hop Connection Jan. 74: Their Speeka project on Ultimate Dilemma is wicked, geeza.

5. in fig. use of sense 2, staleness, tiredness.

1947		B. Schulberg Harder They Fall (1971) 105: You look good as ever [...] and it’s not that you’ve got any geezer in you when you climb through the ropes.
1955		B. Schulberg Waterfront (1966) 204: He could feel all their eyes watching him for sign of geezer. How tough was the tough kid now?

6. a well-dressed, stylish man.

c.1950

K. Howard Small Time Crooks 66: I saw him ’smornin’ an’ what a geezer! He’s gotta curl-brim hat an’ soft white shoes an’ a suit like a railroad executive.

7. (Und.) a prostitute’s client.

1972

B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular 118: the client; the one who pays for it. Syn: geezer (Brit pros sl).

8. (UK gay) a young male prostitute’s older client.

1978

Maledicta II:1+2 (Summer/Winter) 118: Elsewhere Aylwin lists a few more ‘Vulgarities’: [...] geezer (ice cream freezer, a geezer being an old man in common parlance but a client to a rent boy).

9. an authority figure.

1975		L. Rosten Dear ‘Herm’ 99: We might of still gotten the Old Geezer to relax a little.
1997		N. Barlay Curvy Lovebox 101: The Geezer standin’ well pissed off.

10. (UK black) one who fails to achieve the standards of the ‘street’ lifestyle.

2000

N. Barlay Crumple Zone 32: Bruvvers an’ Geezers yeah, dey’s different. Dey even die different defs. High-speed, low-speed innit. Bruvvers die high speed. Geezers get chibbed. Iss all about who can and who can’t innit.