Word Study
gaffer
CIDE DICTIONARY
gaffer, n. [Possibly contr. fr. godfather; but prob. fr. gramfer for grandfather. Cf. Gammer.].
- An old fellow; an aged rustic. [1913 Webster]" Gaffer was originally a respectful title, now degenerated into a term of familiarity or contempt when addressed to an aged man in humble life." [1913 Webster]"Go to each gaffer and each goody." [1913 Webster]
- A foreman or overseer of a gang of laborers. [1913 Webster]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
gaffer, n.
1 an old fellow; an elderly rustic.
2 Brit. colloq. a foreman or boss.
3 colloq. the chief electrician in a film or television production unit.
1 an old fellow; an elderly rustic.
2 Brit. colloq. a foreman or boss.
3 colloq. the chief electrician in a film or television production unit.
Etymology
prob. contr. of GODFATHER
THESAURUS
gaffer
Big Brother, Father Time, Methuselah, Nestor, Old Paar, auditor, boatswain, boss, centenarian, chief, comptroller, controller, dotard, duffer, elder, floor manager, floorman, floorwalker, foreman, ganger, geezer, golden-ager, gramps, grandfather, grandsire, graybeard, head, headman, inspector, monitor, nonagenarian, noncommissioned officer, octogenarian, old boy, old chap, old codger, old dog, old duffer, old geezer, old gent, old gentleman, old man, old party, old-timer, older, oldster, overman, overseer, pantaloon, patriarch, presbyter, proctor, senior citizen, septuagenarian, sexagenarian, sirdar, slave driver, straw boss, subforeman, super, superintendent, supervisor, surveyor, taskmaster, the quiet-voiced elders, venerable sir, veteran, visitorROGET THESAURUS
gaffer
Veteran
N veteran, old man, seer, patriarch, graybeard, grandfather, grandsire, grandam, gaffer, gammer, crone, pantaloon, sexagenarian, octogenarian, nonagenarian, centenarian, old stager, dotard, preadamite, Methuselah, Nestor, old Parr, elders, forefathers, superfluous lags the veteran on the stage.Commonalty
N commonality, commonalty, democracy, obscurity, low condition, low life, low society, low company, bourgeoisie, mass of the people, mass of society, Brown Jones and Robinson, lower classes, humbler classes, humbler orders, vulgar herd, common herd, rank and file, hoc genus omne, the many, the general, the crowd, the people, the populace, the multitude, the million, the masses, the mobility, the peasantry, king Mob, proletariat, fruges consumere nati, demos, hoi polloi, great unwashed, man in the street, mob, rabble, rabble rout, chaff, rout, horde, canaille, scum of the people, residuum of the people, dregs of the people, dregs of society, swinish multitude, foex populi, trash, profanum vulgus, ignobile vulgus, vermin, riffraff, ragtag and bobtail, small fry, commoner, one of the people, democrat, plebeian, republican, proletary, proletaire, roturier, Mr, Snooks, bourgeois, epicier, Philistine, cockney, grisette, demimonde, peasant, countryman, boor, carle, churl, villain, villein, terrae filius, son of the land, serf, kern, tyke, tike, chuff, ryot, fellah, longshoreman, swain, clown, hind, clod, clodhopper, hobnail, yokel, bog-trotter, bumpkin, plowman, plowboy, rustic, hayseed, lunkhead, chaw-bacon, tiller of the soil, hewers of wood and drawers of water, groundling, gaffer, loon, put, cub, Tony Lumpkin, looby, rube, lout, underling, gamin, rough, pot- wallopper, slubberdegullion, vulgar fellow, low fellow, cad, curmudgeon, upstart, parvenu, skipjack, nobody, nobody one knows, hesterni quirites, pessoribus orti, bourgeois gentilhomme, novus homo, snob, gent, mushroom, no one knows who, adventurer, man of straw, beggar, gaberlunzie, muckworm, mudlark, sans culotte, raff, tatterdemalion, caitiff, ragamuffin, Pariah, outcast of society, tramp, vagabond, bezonian, panhandler, sundowner, chiffonnier, Cinderella, cinderwench, scrub, jade, gossoon, Goth, Vandal, Hottentot, Zulu, savage, barbarian, Yahoo, unlicked cub, rough diamond, barbarousness, barbarism, boeotia, ignoble, common, mean, low, base, vile, sorry, scrubby, beggarly, below par, no great shakes, homely, homespun, vulgar, low-minded, snobbish, plebeian, proletarian, of low parentage, of low origin, of low extraction, of mean parentage, of mean origin, of mean extraction, lowborn, baseborn, earthborn, mushroom, dunghill, risen from the ranks, unknown to fame, obscure, untitled, rustic, uncivilized, loutish, boorish, clownish, churlish, brutish, raffish, rude, unlicked, barbarous, barbarian, barbaric, barbaresque, cockney, born within sound of Bow bells, underling, menial, subaltern, below the salt, dummodo sit dives barbarus ipse placet.Man
N man, male, he, him, manhood, gentleman, sir, master, sahib, yeoman, wight, swain, fellow, blade, beau, elf, chap, gaffer, good man, husband, Mr, mister, boy, cock, drake, gander, dog, boar, stag, hart, buck, horse, entire horse, stallion, gibcat, tomcat, he goat, Billy goat, ram, tup, bull, bullock, capon, ox, gelding, steer, stot, androgen, homosexual, gay, queen, male, he-, masculine, manly, virile, unwomanly, unfeminine, Pron, he, him, his, hominem pagina nostra sapit, homo homini aut deus aut lupus, homo vitae commodatus non donatus est.For further exploring for "gaffer" in Webster Dictionary Online