He smacked me around some. Didn't everybody's old man?
One of her companions - a lanky youth with a Beatle-cut hairdo - hammered in a pin with the flat of his hand and hissed: "That's for the old man - he wouldn't let me use the car tonight."1965, Attila Zohar, Kings Cross Black Magic, Sydney: Horwitz Publications, page 67:
4 more examples
‘I use the same back-hand flip me old man useda use to knock me old lady arse-over-’ead an’ Stiffer than Mo.’1982, Paul Radley, My Blue-Checker Corker and Me, Sydney: Fontana/Collins, page 97:
See, my old man's got a problem / He lives with a bottle, that's the way it is1988, Tracy Chapman, “Fast Car”:
"How'd your in-laws feel about you marryin' your wife? Maybe you could pass the paper bag and the comb test, but your old man had dark skin, kinky hair, and he was a dyed-in-the-wool baptist from out in the sticks."2002 February, Don Spears, Playing for Keeps, Los Angeles: Milligan Books, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 183:
Appearance: Tattooed. Also, uncannily like his old man.2025 July 22, “Why on earth is Brooklyn Beckham cooking pasta with seawater?”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
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Colloquial A husband, or male significant other, irrespective of age.
“[…] Now if that thing is balling—and your old lady or your old man is off somewhere flashing and doesn't want to be touched—well, you get put down on acid, you can be on a bummer for months.”1968, Joan Didion, “Slouching Towards Bethlehem”, in Slouching Towards Bethlehem:
I was going through my old man’s pockets this morning1974, Shirley Brown, “Woman to Woman”, in Woman to Woman:
Big Paddy nursed his grief in a quiet, mad fury. Then he urged the Old Men to ‘sing out’ those responsible for the death of his son.1937, Ion L. Idriess, Over the Range, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, published 1947, page 26:
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UK, Dated Term of address for a male friend, irrespective of age.
“Don't mention it, old man,” I responded courteously.1934 October 5, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, Right Ho, Jeeves, London: Herbert Jenkins […], →OCLC:
'Coming up, coming up, coming up,' Pop said. 'There you are, Charley, old man. Larkin Special. Don't ask what's in it. Don't stare at it. Don't think. Just drink it down. In ten minutes you'll feel perfick again.'1958, H. E. Bates, The Darling Buds of May:
Christianity The state of human nature without the spiritual transformation brought about by redemption through Jesus Christ.
A new light has entered into the life and transformed it wonderfully, the soul has been born again, the old man has been put off, the new man which is akin to Jesus Christ has been put on.1906 [1890 November], Richard Acland Armstrong, “What must I do to be saved?”, in George Gilbert Armstrong, editor, Richard Acland Armstrong: A Memoir, Green, page 155:
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Australia Used attributively to denote something of exceptional size, strength, age etc.
‘You watch out for them old man brown snakes in here. I seen a shed skin back there in the hall.’2002, Alex Miller, Journey to the Stone Country, Allen & Unwin, published 2003, page 177:
Australia (applied to plants and animals) Of exceptional size or age.
Along the banks of the Georgina are alternate patches of old-man scrub and strips of plain country.1934, Henry G. Lamond, An Aviary On The Plains, page 209:
Davey suddenly jumped from his horse and ran after a big old-man bungarra. The goanna had arms like a bear.1937, Ion L. Idriess, Over the Range, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, published 1947, page 14:
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Australia (applied to weather) Of exceptional intensity.
They Say: That the wild ducks have tipped an "old man flood."1900 July 8, The Sunday Times, Sydney, page 1, column 1: