Meanings
plural G-men · alternative G. man · alternative G man
- IrelandA political detective.
The long fellow gave him an eye as good as a process and now the bloody old lunatic is gone round to Green Street to look for a G. man.
1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[Episode 12: Cyclops]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC, part II [Odyssey], page 287 - USA special agent of the FBI; (now usually, by extension) anyone working for the US government, especially in undercover work.
He was still giving me that searching look, like a G-man hobnobbing with a suspect.
1946, PG Wodehouse, Joy in the Morning, page 24
Synonyms & antonyms
nouna male special law-enforcement agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Probably abbreviated from government man.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
G-man. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/G-man
“G-man.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/G-man. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “G-man,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/G-man.
Source: G-man on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.