old man

Pluralold men, old-men

1. 1
   elderly personnouncountable or uncountable

   An elderly man.

   The old man next door still shovels his own driveway every winter.

   A group of old men met at the diner each morning to argue about baseball.

   Similarcodger

   Note

   The phrase goes back to Old English eald man, and the literal sense is the one the others lean on. Put my or her in front, though, and readers hear a father or a husband instead, so for a plain statement about age, elderly man or older man avoids the slide.

2. 2
   fathernouncolloquialcountable or uncountable

   A person's father.

   My old man worked at the same factory for thirty years.

   Her old man wouldn't let her go on a date until she turned eighteen.

   Similardad, father, pa, pop, daddy

3. 3
   husbandnouncolloquialcountable or uncountable

   A husband or male partner, whatever his age.

   Her old man proposed to her on a fishing trip when they were both twenty-two.

   She left her old man at home with the kids and went out dancing with her sisters.

   Similarhubby

4. 4
   bossnounslangcountable or uncountable

   The man one works for, whatever his age.

   The old man gave everyone a bonus after the company's best year.

   Ask the old man whether we can close the shop early on Christmas Eve.

   Similarboss, governor

   Note

   Staff use it about the boss, not to him: the old man wants the report by Friday. It nearly always takes the, and age has nothing to do with it; the phrase marks who is in charge, with boss and governor as its plainer partners.

5. 5
   commandernounslangcountable or uncountable

   The commanding officer of a military unit, or the commander of a naval vessel, whatever his age.

   The old man wants the whole company formed up on the parade ground at six.

   The crew knew the old man would never leave the bridge during a storm.

   Similarcommander, captain, skipper

   Note

   On a ship or in a unit the title goes with command, not with years: a captain of thirty is the old man to his crew. It is talk among the ranks, like the workplace boss; addressed directly, the same officer is sir or captain.

6. 6
   extremenounAustraliacountable or uncountable

   Used before a noun to mark something as exceptionally large, strong, or old.

   After the party he woke up with an old man hangover and stayed in bed till noon.

   The road crew finally filled that old man pothole on Main Street that kept wrecking tires.

   Note

   Australian English sets the phrase straight in front of a noun, unchanged and unhyphenated, to mark the giant or veteran of its kind: an old man crocodile, old man snakes. Alex Miller's Journey to the Stone Country (2002) has a warning about "them old man brown snakes". Written with a hyphen, the same idea becomes an adjective.

7. 7
   large (living things)adjective · old-manAustralia

   Of plants and animals, exceptionally large or old.

   The track wound through thick old-man scrub before it reached the river flats.

   An old-man emu stalked along the fence line, taller than any bird in the flock.

   Similargiant, huge, massive

   Note

   It names a class, not a degree: a tree or an emu is old-man or it is not, and nothing is more old-man than another. Henry G. Lamond's An Aviary on the Plains (1934) sets patches of old-man scrub against strips of plain country along the Georgina.

8. 8
   severe weatheradjective · old-manAustralia

   Of weather, exceptionally intense.

   An old-man storm tore the roof off the shearing shed.

   Locals still talk about the old-man flood of their childhood, when the river rose over the bridge.

   Similarsevere, violent, fierce

   Note

   Weather takes it at its most dramatic: an old-man flood or storm is the one remembered for years. In 1900 the Sunday Times of Sydney reported that the wild ducks had tipped an "old man flood", foretelling a huge one, and printed the phrase in quotation marks and without the hyphen.

9. 9
   sinful naturenouncountable or uncountable

   In Christian teaching, human nature before the spiritual change brought by redemption through Jesus Christ.

   The preacher urged his listeners to put off the old man and begin a new life.

   She believed that faith had buried the old man and raised her to a new life.

   Note

   Christian writing sets it against the new man: the self ruled by sin against the self renewed in Christ. The verbs are those of changing clothes, so the old man is put off and the new man put on, as Richard Acland Armstrong wrote in 1890. The Old Adam names the same unredeemed nature.

10. 10
    herbnoununcountable

    Another name for the herb southernwood.

    The cottage garden had lavender, rosemary and a gray-green clump of old man.

    A few dried stems of old man hung in the closet among the winter coats.

    Similarsouthernwood

    Note

    As a plant name it is a mass noun, so gardeners plant old man or keep a clump of it, never an old man. The plant is southernwood, a shrubby wormwood, Artemisia abrotanum, grown for its feathery gray-green leaves and sharp, lemony scent.

11. 11
    casual spellingnoun · old-mannonstandard

    Alternative spelling of oldman. Nonstandard: the usual spelling is old man.

    "Her old-man drove a cab in this town for thirty years," the neighbor said.

    "Everybody on the street knew his old-man," she wrote in the comments.

    Note

    This hyphenated spelling sits between the two-word old man and the closed oldman, and edited prose avoids it for the noun: a father, husband or boss is my old man. The hyphen is right when the phrase modifies another noun, as with the "exceptionally large" adjective or an old-man voice; on the noun itself it reads as a slip.

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