old man

See also: Old Man, oldman, Oldman, and old-man

English

Alternative forms

• oldman (nonstandard)
• old-man (nonstandard)

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Noun

old man (countable and uncountable, plural old men)

1. An elderly man.

   Synonyms: codger; see also Thesaurus:old man

   Antonym: old lady

2. (slang) One's father.

   Synonyms: dad, pa; see also Thesaurus:father

   Antonym: old lady

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

   • 2002 February, Don Spears, Playing for Keeps‎^[1], Los Angeles: Milligan Books, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 183:

     "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."

3. (slang) A husband, or male significant other, irrespective of age.

   Synonym: hubby

   Antonym: old lady

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

     “ […] 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.”

4. (slang) One's male employer, irrespective of age.

   Synonyms: boss, governor

5. (slang, military) A unit's commanding officer, or the commander of a naval vessel, irrespective of age.
6. (UK, dated) Term of address for a male friend, irrespective of age.

   Synonyms: old bean, old chap

   • 1934, P. G. Wodehouse, Right Ho, Jeeves:

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

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

     '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.'

7. (uncountable, herbs) Synonym of southernwood
8. (Christianity) The state of human nature without the spiritual transformation brought about by redemption through Jesus Christ.
   • 1906 [November 1890], Richard Acland Armstrong, “What must I do to be saved?”, in George Gilbert Armstrong, editor, Richard Acland Armstrong: A Memoir, Green, page 155:

     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.

9. (Australia) Used attributively to denote something of exceptional size, strength, age etc. [from 19th c.]
   • 2002, Alex Miller, Journey to the Stone Country, Allen & Unwin, published 2003, page 177:

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

Usage notes

Except for the term of address for a friend, to use the phrase to the face of one's father, employer, etc. would be considered disrespectful or insubordinate.

Translations

elderly man

• Abkhaz: аҭаҳмада (ataḥmada)
• Ainu: ヘンケ (henke)
• Albanian: plak (sq) m
• Alutor: ынпыӄлавул (ənpəqlavul)
• Arabic: شَيْخ‎ (ar) m (šayḵ), عَجُوز‎ m (ʕajūz)

  Egyptian Arabic: عجوز‎ m (ʕagūz)

• Armenian: ծերունի (hy) (ceruni), ծերուկ (hy) (ceruk), պառավ (hy) (paṙav)
• Aromanian: mosh m, bitãrnu m, aush m, tot m, pap m
• Azerbaijani: qoca (az), qoca kişi, ağsaqqal (respectful)
• Bashkir: ҡарт (qart)
• Basque: agure
• Belarusian: стары́ m (starý), дзед m (dzjed), ста́рац m (stárac), стары́к m (starýk)
• Bulgarian: ста́рец (bg) m (stárec), дя́до (bg) m (djádo)
• Burmese: အဘိုးကြီး (my) (a.bhui:kri:), အဘိုးအို (my) (a.bhui:ui)
• Chinese:

  Dungan: лохан (lohan)

  Mandarin: 老漢／老汉 (zh) (lǎohàn), (sometimes unfriendly) 老頭兒／老头儿 (zh) (lǎotóur), 老人 (zh) (lǎorén)

• Czech: stařec (cs) m
• Danish: olding c
• Darkinjung: ngarrombai
• Esperanto: maljunulo (eo), oldulo
• Estonian: vanamees, ätt
• Evenki: этыркэн (ətirkən)
• Finnish: ukko (fi), äijä (fi), jäärä (fi), vanha mies
• French: vieillard (fr) m, vieil homme m, vieux (fr) m, vieux monsieur m
• Galician: vello (gl) m, ancián m, vellote m, vedraño (gl) m (now literary)
• Georgian: მოხუცი (moxuci)
• German: Greis (de) m, (indefinite) Alter (de) m, alter Mann m, Väterchen n
• Greek: γέρος (el) m (géros), γέροντας (el) m (gérontas)

  Ancient: γέρων m (gérōn)

• Hindi: बूढ़ा (hi) m (būṛhā)
• Hungarian: öregember (hu)
• Ilocano: lakay
• Indonesian: pak tua
• Ingrian: äijä, ukko
• Irish: seanduine m, seanfhear m
• Italian: vecchio (it) m
• Japanese: お爺さん (ja) (おじいさん, ojīsan), 親父 (ja) (おやじ, oyaji), 親爺 (おやじ, oyaji), 老爺 (ja) (おやじ, oyaji), 爺 (ja) (じじい, jijī), 老人 (ja) (ろうじん, rōjin)
• Kaingang: kófa
• Kazakh: қарт (qart), шал (şal), қария (qariä) (respectful), ақсақал (aqsaqal) (patriarch)
• Khmer: អ្នកចាស់ (nĕək cah)
• Kikuyu: mũthee class 1
• Korean: 노인(老人) (ko) (noin), 할아버지 (ko) (harabeoji), 로인(老人) (ko) (roin) (North Korea)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: پیرەمێرد‎ (pîremêrd)

  Northern Kurdish: pîremêr (ku) m

• Kyrgyz: абышка (ky) (abışka), чал (ky) (çal), карыя (karıya) (respectful), аксакал (ky) (aksakal) (patriarch), карт (kart)
• Latin: senex (la) m, vetulus (la) m
• Latvian: vecis m
• Ligurian: vêgio m
• Lithuanian: senis (lt) m, senelis (lt) m, (usually a very old man) senukas m
• Macedonian: старец m (starec)
• Malayalam: വയസ്സൻ (ml) m (vayassaṉ), വൃദ്ധൻ (ml) m (vr̥ddhaṉ), വയോധികൻ m (vayōdhikaṉ)
• Manchu: ᠮᠠᡶᠠ (mafa)
• Maore Comorian: ɓakoko class 5/6
• Mon: လ ထဴ (lɛ̀ˀ thao)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: өвгөн (mn) (övgön)

• Nanai: мапа
• Ndzwani Comorian: ɓako
• Ngarrindjeri: yandiorn
• Ngazidja Comorian: mndru-mɓaye class 1/2
• Nivkh: ӿемар (hemar)
• Nogai: карт (kart)
• Northern Ohlone: húntáts
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: gamling m, olding m

• Ojibwe: akiwenzii
• Persian: پیرمرد‎ (fa) (pir-e-mard)
• Polish: starzec (pl) m, staruszek (pl) m, dziadek (pl) m, stary (pl) m
• Portuguese: velho (pt) m, idoso (pt) m, velhote (pt) m (informal)
• Quechua: awki, machu (qu), macu, aukin
• Romanian: moș (ro) m
• Russian: стари́к (ru) m (starík), старичо́к (ru) m (staričók), (colloquial) дед (ru) m (ded), (colloquial) де́душка (ru) m (déduška), ста́рец (ru) m (stárec), пожило́й челове́к m (požilój čelovék)
• Scots: bodach
• Scottish Gaelic: bodach
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ста̏рац m

  Roman: stȁrac (sh) m

• Shor: апшый (apşıy)
• Sidamo: geercho
• Slovak: starec m
• Slovene: starec m
• Somali: duq, oday
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: źěd m

• Spanish: viejo (es) m
• Swahili: mzee (sw) class 1/2
• Swedish: gubbe (sv) c
• Tajik: мӯйсафед (müysafed), куҳансол (tg) (kuhansol), пир (pir)
• Taos: łùłi’ína
• Tatar: карт (tt) (qart)
• Telugu: వృద్ధుడు (te) m (vr̥ddhuḍu)
• Thai: ชายชรา, ตาแก่
• Ugaritic: 𐎌𐎁 (šb)
• Ukrainian: стари́й m (starýj), стари́к m (starýk), дід m (did), ста́рець m (stárecʹ)
• Urdu: بوڑھا‎ m (būṛhā)
• Uzbek: chol (uz), qariya (uz), keksa (uz), moʻysa-fid
• Vietnamese: ông già (vi)
• Welsh: henwr m, hynafgwr m
• Yagara: bud dair
• Yiddish: אַלטער‎ m (alter)

father (slang)

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 老子 (zh) (lǎozi)

• Finnish: faija (fi), isäukko
• French: vieux (fr) m, daron (fr) m
• Greek: γέρος (el) m (géros)
• Hungarian: örege (only used in the possessive)
• Japanese: 親父 (ja) (おやじ, oyaji)
• Korean: 아버지 (ko) (abeoji)
• Ngazidja Comorian: mzee class 1/2
• Polish: stary (pl) m, staruszek (pl) m, zgred m
• Portuguese: velhote (pt) m
• Russian: папа́ша (ru) m (papáša), стари́к (ru) m (starík) (old man), паха́н (ru) m (paxán) (rude, also "leader" in the criminal slang)
• Spanish: viejo (es)
• Vietnamese: ông già (vi)

slang: husband, significant other

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 老公 (zh) (lǎogōng)

• Finnish: ukko (fi)
• Greek: γέρος (el) m (géros)
• Polish: stary (pl) m
• Russian: муженёк (ru) m (muženjók), мужи́к (ru) m (mužík)

See also

• old lady
• old woman
• old chap

Anagrams

• Almond, Dolman, Lamond, Maldon, almond, dolman