codger

Meanings

1. 1
   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.’

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Codger, recorded from the mid-18th century for an elderly man, is probably a variant of cadger. Cadger had earlier denoted a travelling pedlar or dealer in northern English and Scots.

Possibly derived from cadger (“hawker”). Or abbreviation of coffin dodger, but this is likely to be a folk etymology.

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External links

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• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary