buddy

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A friend or casual acquaintance.

   They have been buddies since they were in school.

2. 2
   noun

   A partner for a particular activity.

   drinking buddies

3. 3
   noun

   An informal and friendly address to a stranger, usually male; a friendly (or occasionally antagonistic) placeholder name for a person one does not know.

   Hey, buddy, I think you dropped this.

4. 4
   pron

   A person far removed from the conversation.

   I found some earphones in the pocket, buddy must have been pissed.

5. 5
   verb

   To assign a buddy, or partner, to.

   If you are being formally buddied, have a good chat with your buddy and find out their interests -- these should more or less match your own.

6. 6
   adj

   Resembling a bud.

   Some of the dwarfer varieties are full of buddy growths in the early stages and these must be cut down and thrown away.

7. 7
   noun

   a close friend who accompanies his buddies in their activities

8. 8
   name

   A male nickname.

Etymology

First appears c. 1788, in the writings of Charles Dibdin, of uncertain origin. Possibly from *bruddy, *bruthy, a child-talk alteration of brother. Alternatively, perhaps from British colloquial butty (“companion”), also the form of an older dialect term meaning workmate, associated with coal mining. Itself believed derived from 1530 as booty fellow, a partner with whom one shares booty or loot. Alternatively, compare Scots buddo, bodda (“buddy, kiddo, dear”), related to Icelandic budda (“purse"; also "short, stout person”).