Meanings
plural codgers · alternative coger
- informalAn amusingly eccentric or grumpy and usually elderly man.
Now I was a forsaken codger snuffling disgracefully from a beautiful floozy's abuse.
1976 September, Saul Bellow, Humboldt’s Gift, New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, →ISBN, page 4182 more examples
‘I haven’t been drinking your health, my codger,’ replied Mr. Squeers; ‘so you have nothing to do with that.’
1839, Charles Dickens, Nicholas NicklebyJed, darling. The old codgers need to talk. Andrew's going to buy you a drink in that beautiful bar up on the terrace.
2016, 27:21 from the start, in The Night Manager, season 1, episode 4, spoken by Richard "Dicky" Onslow Roper (Hugh Laurie)Synonyms: antiquity, gadgie, gaffer, geezer, gramps, greybeard, old codger, old fart
Synonyms & antonyms
nounAn amusingly eccentric or grumpy and usually elderly man.
More synonyms by meaning
nounused affectionately to refer to an eccentric but amusing old man
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Possibly derived from cadger (“hawker”). Or abbreviation of coffin dodger, but this is likely to be a folk etymology.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian чешит
- чешит (češit)an amusingly eccentric or grumpy and usually elderly man
Czech strejc, dědek
- strejcan amusingly eccentric or grumpy and usually elderly man
- dědekan amusingly eccentric or grumpy and usually elderly man
- dědulaan amusingly eccentric or grumpy and usually elderly man
Dutch brompot, vreemde oude vent
- brompotan amusingly eccentric or grumpy and usually elderly man
- vreemde oude ventan amusingly eccentric or grumpy and usually elderly man
Finnish äijänkäppänä
- äijänkäppänäan amusingly eccentric or grumpy and usually elderly man
French grognon, vieux bougon
- grognonan amusingly eccentric or grumpy and usually elderly man
- vieux bougonan amusingly eccentric or grumpy and usually elderly man
Polish dziwak
- dziwakan amusingly eccentric or grumpy and usually elderly man
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with codger
All rhymes →Cite this entry
codger. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/codger
“codger.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/codger. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “codger,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/codger.
Source: codger on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.