Uncle

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: un=cle

CIDE DICTIONARY

Uncle, n. [OE. uncle, OF. oncle, uncle, F. oncle, fr. L. avunculus a maternal uncle, dim. of avus a grandfather; akin to Lith. avynas uncle, Goth. aw grandmother, Icel. āi great grandfather.].

•  The brother of one's father or mother; also applied to an aunt's husband; -- the correlative of aunt in sex, and of nephew and niece in relationship.  [1913 Webster]
•  A pawnbroker.  Thackeray.  [1913 Webster]
•  An eldery man; -- used chiefly as a kindly or familiar appellation, esp. (Southern U. S.) for a worthy old negro; as, “Uncle Remus.”

  "Plain old uncle as he [Socrates] was, with his great ears, -- an immense talker."  [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

My uncle, a pawnbroker. [Slang] -- Uncle Sam, a humorous appellation given to the United States Government. See Uncle Sam, in Dictionary of Noted Names in Fiction.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Uncle, n.
1 a the brother of one's father or mother. b an aunt's husband.
2 colloq. a name given by children to a male family friend.
3 sl. esp. hist. a pawnbroker.

Idiom

Uncle Sam colloq. the federal government or citizens of the US (will fight for Uncle Sam). Uncle Tom derog. a Black man considered to be servile, cringing, etc. (from the hero of H. B. Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, 1852).

Etymology

ME f. AF uncle, OF oncle f. LL aunculus f. L avunculus maternal uncle: see AVUNCULAR

THESAURUS

Uncle

aunt, auntie, blood brother, brethren, brother, bub, bubba, bud, buddy, country cousin, cousin, cousin once removed, cousin twice removed, daughter, father, first cousin, foster brother, frater, grandnephew, grandniece, granduncle, great-aunt, great-uncle, half brother, kid brother, mother, nephew, niece, nuncle, nunks, nunky, second cousin, sis, sissy, sister, sister-german, sistern, son, stepbrother, stepsister, unc, uncs, uterine brother

ROGET THESAURUS

Uncle

Consanguinity

N consanguinity, relationship, kindred, blood, parentage, filiation, affiliation, lineage, agnation, connection, alliance, family connection, family tie, ties of blood, nepotism, kinsman, kinfolk, kith and kin, relation, relative, connection, sibling, sib, next of kin, uncle, aunt, nephew, niece, cousin, cousin- german, first cousin, second cousin, cousin once removed, cousin twice removed, ear relation, distant relation, brother, sister, one's own flesh and blood, family, fraternity, brotherhood, sisterhood, cousinhood, race, stock, generation, sept, stirps, side, strain, breed, clan, tribe, nation, related, akin, consanguineous, of the blood, family, allied, collateral, cognate, agnate, connate, kindred, affiliated, fraternal, intimately related, nearly related, closely related, remotely related, distantly related, allied, german.