Start with the two words doing exactly what they say: a man who has lived a long time. Now notice what English does with that picture. Being old, in this word, quietly turns into standing over you — the one who came before you, who knows more, who decides. From there the age itself falls away and only the position is left. Your father is that man. So is your husband, once your life has been joined to his. So is the captain of the ship, even if he is thirty. And when you call out old man to a friend, you are lending him that same standing for a moment, as a kind of warmth.
From the word’s history
Wiktionary traces the phrase to Middle English alde mann and Old English eald man, literally an old man. It has been two plain words placed side by side from the beginning.
Wiktionary 記錄這個說法來自中古英語的 alde mann，再往前是古英語的 eald man，字面就是「老的男人」。它從一開始就是兩個普通的字並排放著，沒有特別的來歷。
Wiktionary via kaikki, source_ref kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:685894448:90801, etymology_text: From Middle English alde mann, aldman, elde man, oldeman, from Old English eald man.
登入就可以看每一支怎麼連回核心畫面。
原始詞典資料14 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
Old Manname
- 1
A title given to the personification of a force of nature or abstract concept, such as Old Man Winter or Old Man River.
- But it was really Old Man Concentration and his partner, Co-operation, that put across the big clean-up.
- Big-Horn hadn't been told whom he was to fight, and when he found that it was Old Man Coyote, he was disappointed.
- 2
A creator god in some Native American mythologies.
- The Wiyot say that Condor recreated mankind after Old Man wiped out humanity with a flood.
old mannoun
- 1
An elderly man.
- 2
One's father.
- 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."
- 3
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.”
- I was going through my old man’s pockets this morning
- 4
slangOne's male employer, irrespective of age.
- 5
slanggovernmentmilitarypoliticsA unit's commanding officer, or the commander of a naval vessel, irrespective of age.
- 6
An Australian Aboriginal elder.
- 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.
- 7
datedTerm of address for a male friend, irrespective of age.
- “Don't mention it, old man,” I responded courteously.
- '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.'
- 8
lifestylereligiontheologySynonym of Old Adam.
另外 3 個記錄的用法
- 9
Synonym of southernwood.
- 10
ChristianityThe 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.
- 11
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.’
這個拼法也被記錄為下列字的變化形：
- Old Man of Coniston
摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。