old man

plural old men · alternative oldman · alternative old-man

1. countableliterallyuncountableAn elderly man.

   Synonyms: codger · Antonyms: old lady

2. colloquialcountableuncountableOne's father.

   He smacked me around some. Didn't everybody's old man?

   5 more examples

   One of her companions - a lanky youth with a Beatle-cut hairdo - hammered in a pin with the flat of his hand and hissed: "That's for the old man - he wouldn't let me use the car tonight."

   1965, Attila Zohar, Kings Cross Black Magic, Sydney: Horwitz Publications, page 67

   ‘I use the same back-hand flip me old man useda use to knock me old lady arse-over-’ead an’ Stiffer than Mo.’

   1982, Paul Radley, My Blue-Checker Corker and Me, Sydney: Fontana/Collins, page 97

   See, my old man's got a problem / He lives with a bottle, that's the way it is

   1988, Tracy Chapman, “Fast Car”

   "How'd your in-laws feel about you marryin' your wife? Maybe you could pass the paper bag and the comb test, but your old man had dark skin, kinky hair, and he was a dyed-in-the-wool baptist from out in the sticks."

   2002 February, Don Spears, Playing for Keeps, Los Angeles: Milligan Books, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 183

   Appearance: Tattooed. Also, uncannily like his old man.

   2025 July 22, “Why on earth is Brooklyn Beckham cooking pasta with seawater?”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

   Synonyms: dad, pa, ayr, ba, baba, da, dad, dada · Antonyms: old lady

3. colloquialcountableuncountableA husband, or male significant other, irrespective of age.

   I was going through my old man’s pockets this morning

   1974, Shirley Brown, “Woman to Woman”, in Woman to Woman

   1 more example

   “[…] Now if that thing is balling—and your old lady or your old man is off somewhere flashing and doesn't want to be touched—well, you get put down on acid, you can be on a bummer for months.”

   1968, Joan Didion, “Slouching Towards Bethlehem”, in Slouching Towards Bethlehem

   Synonyms: hubby · Antonyms: old lady

4. countableslanguncountableOne's male employer, irrespective of age.

   Synonyms: boss, governor

5. countableslanguncountablegovernmentA unit's commanding officer, or the commander of a naval vessel, irrespective of age.
6. AustraliacountableuncountableAn Australian Aboriginal elder.

   Big Paddy nursed his grief in a quiet, mad fury. Then he urged the Old Men to ‘sing out’ those responsible for the death of his son.

   1937, Ion L. Idriess, Over the Range, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, published 1947, page 26

7. UKcountabledateduncountableTerm of address for a male friend, irrespective of age.

   “Don't mention it, old man,” I responded courteously.

   1934 October 5, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, Right Ho, Jeeves, London: Herbert Jenkins […], →OCLC

   1 more example

   'Coming up, coming up, coming up,' Pop said. 'There you are, Charley, old man. Larkin Special. Don't ask what's in it. Don't stare at it. Don't think. Just drink it down. In ten minutes you'll feel perfick again.'

   1958, H. E. Bates, The Darling Buds of May

   Synonyms: old bean, old chap

8. uncountablelifestyleSynonym of Old Adam.

   Synonyms: Old Adam

9. uncountableherbsSynonym of southernwood.

   Synonyms: southernwood

10. countableuncountableChristianityThe state of human nature without the spiritual transformation brought about by redemption through Jesus Christ.

    A new light has entered into the life and transformed it wonderfully, the soul has been born again, the old man has been put off, the new man which is akin to Jesus Christ has been put on.

    1906 [1890 November], Richard Acland Armstrong, “What must I do to be saved?”, in George Gilbert Armstrong, editor, Richard Acland Armstrong: A Memoir, Green, page 155

11. AustraliacountableuncountableUsed attributively to denote something of exceptional size, strength, age etc.First known use 19th c.

    ‘You watch out for them old man brown snakes in here. I seen a shed skin back there in the hall.’

    2002, Alex Miller, Journey to the Stone Country, Allen & Unwin, published 2003, page 177

1. A title given to the personification of a force of nature or abstract concept, such as Old Man Winter or Old Man River.

   But it was really Old Man Concentration and his partner, Co-operation, that put across the big clean-up.

   1919, The American Produce Review, volume 47, page 773

   1 more example

   Big-Horn hadn't been told whom he was to fight, and when he found that it was Old Man Coyote, he was disappointed.

   2019, Thornton Burgess, Old Mother West Wind Collection, page 471

2. A creator god in some Native American mythologies.

   The Wiyot say that Condor recreated mankind after Old Man wiped out humanity with a flood.

   2012, Caspar Henderson, The Book of Barely Imagined Beings, page 249

3. abbreviationellipsisEllipsis of Old Man of Coniston.