old man

noun

1

informal

a

: husband

"You see the back of that house with the broken porch rail. Mrs. Danaker lives there. She takes in washin'. Her old man was killed on the railroad."

—Jack London

b

: father

When he had everybody around him, all of us, all the kids, my old man was in heaven.

—Philip Roth

c

: boyfriend

… Kate's friend Carol, who knew about such things because her current old man knew the advertising man at Rolling Stone …

—Cyra McFadden

2

or Old Man informal : a man in authority

especially : commanding officer

Pershing disliked MacArthur's cowboy individualism and the impudence with which he treated the old man's headquarters staff.

—U.S. News & World Report

Synonyms

• dad
• daddy
• father
• pa
• papa
• poppa
• pater [chiefly British]
• pop
• sire

Examples of old man in a Sentence

I've been with my old man for 12 years now.

I used to work with your old man.

Word History

First Known Use

1673, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Kids Definition

old man

noun

1

informal : one's husband or father

2

capitalized O&M informal : a person (as one's boss or commanding officer) who is in charge

3

informal : boyfriend

Geographical Definition

Oldman

geographical name

Old·​man ˈōld-mən 

river in southern Alberta, Canada, that rises in the Rocky Mountains near the border with British Columbia and flows 200 miles (320 kilometers) east to unite with the Bow River, forming the South Saskatchewan River