subs. (common).—A familiar term of address, especially in OLD CODGER; a curious old fellow; an odd fish; a ‘rum’ character; a precise, and sometimes a mean or miserly man.
ENGLISH SYNONYMS. Most of the general slang terms for a man or fellow correspond in usage to ‘old codger,’ e.g., old chap; ben cull; old man; my pippin; old cock, etc.
FRENCH SYNONYMS. Un béquillard (popular: French thieves give the same name to the executioner); vieux canasson (popular: ‘old man,’ ‘old cock’); un birbe; ma vieille branche.
ITALIAN SYNONYM. Fuino (literally a pole-cat).
1760. COLMAN, Polly Honeycombe, in wks. (1777) IV., 39. A clear coast, I find.——The OLD CODGER’S gone, and has locked me up with his daughter.
1760. SMOLLETT, Sir Launcelot Greaves, vol. I., ch. iii. She twisted her hand in Grove’s neckcloth without ceremony, crying—‘Sha’t then, I tell thee, OLD COGER.’
1796. BURNEY, Camilla, bk. IX., ch. iv. He gave himself the airs of an old justice of the peace, and said if he did not find the affair given up, nothing should induce him ever to help me again. What a mere CODGER that lad has turned out!
1837. R. H. BARHAM, The Ingoldsby Legends (A Lay of St. Nicholas).
| How a thirsty OLD CODGER, the neighbours call’d Roger, | |
| With them drank cold water in lieu of old wine! |
1859. DICKENS, Tale of Two Cities, bk. II., ch. xxiv. Why, I am a boy, sir, to half-a-dozen OLD CODGERS here.
1876. C. HINDLEY, ed. The Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 61. His father, a rum OLD CODGER, had been a captain in the army.
1883. F. R. STOCKTON, Rudder Grange, ch. xi. I knew that any sensible man would rather have me in charge of his tent than a young CODGER like that.
1887. BAUMANN, Londinismen, Slang und Cant, ‘A Slang Ditty,’ p. vi.
| So from hartful young dodgers, | |
| From vaxy OLD CODGERS, | |
| From the blowens ve got | |
| Soon to know vot is vot. |
