codger
An amusingly eccentric or grumpy and usually elderly man.
Noun
- An amusingly eccentric or grumpy and usually elderly man.
- ‘I haven’t been drinking your health, my codger,’ replied Mr. Squeers; ‘so you have nothing to do with that.’ - 1839, Charles Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby:
- 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 418:
- Jed, 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"...
Synonyms: antiquity codger gadgie gaffer geezer gramps greybeard old codger old fart old man whitebeard
Origin
Possibly derived from cadger (“hawker”). Or abbreviation of coffin dodger, but this is likely to be a folk etymology.