Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definitions: Gaffer |
GafferNoun1. An elderly man. 2. An electrician responsible for lighting on a movie or tv set. 3. A person who exercises control over workers; "if you want to leave early you have to ask the foreman". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "gaffer" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1677. (references) |
Note: Gaffer \Gaf"fer\, noun. [Possibly contr. from godfather; but probably from gramfer for grandfather. Compare to Gammer.]. (Websters 1913) |
| Domain | Definitions |
Literature | Gaffer (g hard). A title of address, as "Gaffer Grey," "Good-day, Gaffer." About equal to "mate." (Anglo-Saxon, gefera, a comrade.) Many think the word is "grandfather." (See Gammer.) "If I had but a thousand a year, Gaffer Green, If I had but a thousand a year." Gaffer Green and Robin Rough. Source: Brewer's Dictionary. |
Occupations | Shapes gather (gob of molten glass) into glassware by blowing through blowpipe: Receives blowpipe from GATHERER (glass mfg.) 575.684-026 and examines gather on blowpipe for imperfections, utilizing knowledge of molten glass characteristics. Blows through pipe to inflate gather while rotating pipe to prevent sagging and to obtain desired shape, or blows and rotates gather in mold or on board to obtain final shape. May dip end of blowpipe into molten glass to collect gather on head of pipe. May strike neck of finished article to separate article from blow pipe. May pull gather with tongs to aid in shaping. May use compressed air to inflate gather. May be designated according to article blown as Bottle Blower (glass mfg.). (references) |
Slang | Noun. Source: Probably from godfather. Definition: Boss, or person in charge. Context: This particular group uses the word when addressing the boss, where other groups would use gaffer simply as a reference to the group. It's in casual context, where the boss is also a friend. Social Source: British 20-somethings. Source: Compiled by The University of Oregon. (additional references) |
| Noun. Source: In American usage, gaffer means "old man.". Definition: Boss. Context: A word used usually by young people when referring to their boss. Is not often used within earshot of the boss. Social Source: British teenagers. Source: Compiled by The University of Oregon. (additional references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Gaffer."
Synonyms: GafferSynonyms: antique (n), boss (n), chief (n), foreman (n), honcho (n), mossback (n), old geezer (n), old-timer (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Commonalty | Peasant, countryman, boor, carle, churl; villain, villein; terrae filius; serf, kern, tyke, tike, chuff, ryot, fellah; longshoreman; swain, clown, hind; clod, clodhopper; hobnail, yokel, bog-trotter, bumpkin; plowman, plowboy; rustic, hayseed, lunkhead, chaw-bacon, tiller of the soil; hewers of wood and drawers of water, groundling; gaffer, loon, put, cub, Tony Lumpkin, looby, rube, lout, underling; gamin; rough; pot-wallopper, slubberdegullion; vulgar fellow, low fellow; cad, curmudgeon. |
Man | Noun: man, male, he, him; manhood. (adolescence); gentleman, sir, master; sahib; yeoman, wight, swain, fellow, blade, beau, elf, chap, gaffer, good man; husband. (married man); Mr., mister; boy. (youth). |
Veteran | Noun: veteran, old man, seer, patriarch, graybeard; grandfather, grandsire; grandam; gaffer, gammer; crone; pantaloon; sexagenarian, octogenarian, nonagenarian, centenarian; old stager; dotard. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Gaffer |
| English words defined with "gaffer": Gammer. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "gaffer": Cummer ♦ Witham. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Gaffer" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses. French (blunder, goof, slip, slip up, trip up, watch out), German (gaper, gawper, gawpers, gazer, gazers, rubberneck, rubbernecks, starer). |
| Domain | Usage | |
Movie/TV Titles | The Gaffer (1981) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| "Gaffer" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 88.71% of the time. "Gaffer" is used about 62 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 88.71% | 55 | 45,713 |
| Noun (proper) | 6.45% | 4 | 175,879 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 3.23% | 2 | 245,945 |
| Lexical Verb (infinitive) | 1.61% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 62 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following table summarizes the usage of "gaffer" based on a population census conducted in the United States. Ranks and frequencies are based on all names reported and classified. |
| Name | Usage/Gender | Usage per 100 million Persons | Rank in USA |
| Gaffer | Last name | 100 | 72,763 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits. | |||
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "gaffer": gaffer-to-man. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
gaffer tape | 74 |
gaffer | 51 |
gaffer and sattler | 24 |
gaffer golant | 5 |
gaffer sattler stove | 3 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "gaffer"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | xhaxho, xhaxha, kryepunëtor (foreman). (various references) | |
Arabic | مدير (administrator, chief, director, executive, landlord, manager, patron, provost, reeve), عجوز (elderly, grey haired, long in the tooth, old, overage, wintry), رئيس فنين, رئيس ورشة. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | старче (oldster), работодател (employer, master, padrone), чорбаджия, осветител (illuminator, juicer), надзирател (conservator, house-father, inspector, manager, overseer, peeper, prison guard, straw boss, super, superintendent, supervisor, task master, warden, warder), дядка (geezer, granddad). (various references) | |
Czech | starý muž. (various references) | |
Danish | glasmager (blower, chairman, finisher, footmaker, glassblower, glass-maker, maker, workman), opblaeser (blower, footmaker, glassblower, glass-maker). (various references) | |
Dutch | glasmaker (chairman, finisher, maker, workman), glasblazer (blower, footmaker, glassblower, glass-maker), voorman (chairman, finisher, leader, maker, preceding endorser, previous endorser, workman), kelkenblazer (blower, footmaker, glassblower, glass-maker), carreur (blower, footmaker, glassblower, glass-maker). (various references) | |
Finnish | puhaltaja (blower, footmaker, glassblower, glass-maker), mestari (adept, chairman, champion, expert, finisher, maestro, maker, master, workman). (various references) | |
French | vieux, souffleur, patron, ouvrier, chef-électricien, chef de place, chef électricien, chef, carreur. (various references) | |
German | opa (fogey, geezer, granddad, grandfather, grandpa, pop), Gevatter (Brer, godfather). (various references) | |
Greek | γερών χωρικόσ, γερών, γεροχωριάτησ, φυσητής γυαλιού (blower, footmaker, glassblower, glass-maker), εργοδηγόσ, επιστάτησ (caretaker, custodian, foreman, janitor, steward, stewardess, superintendent, supervisor), αρχιεργάτησ (foreman), αρχιτεχνίτης υαλουργός (chairman, finisher, maker, workman). (various references) | |
Hungarian | öregapó. (various references) | |
Italian | soffiatore (blower, fan, footmaker, glassblower, glass-maker, ventilator), maestro capopiazza (chairman, finisher, maker, workman), maestro apritore (chairman, finisher, maker, workman), compare (godfather), capopiazza (chairman, finisher, maker, workman). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | affergay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | gafe (Favor), vidreiro soprador (blower, footmaker, glassblower, glass-maker), vidreiro (blower, footmaker, glassblower, glass-maker), velhote (gehenna, oldster, patera), soprador (blower, footmaker, glassblower, glass-maker), oficial (authoritative, chairman, finisher, journeyman, maker, off duty, officer, official, workman), mestre (adept, boss, educe, Governor-elect, instructor, maestro, master, nailer, skipper, teacher), fiscal (check, conservator, controller, fiscal changes, inspector, inspectorate, inspiration, land surveyor, overman, overset, superintendent, supervisor, surveyor), chefe de obragem (chairman, finisher, maker, workman). (various references) | |
Romanian | bãtrân simpatic, şef al unei echipe de muncitori. (various references) | |
Russian | старик (graybeard, greybeard, old man, oldster), десятник (foreman, ganger, gangsman, overman). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | starčić, nadzornik (driver, floor walker, floorwalker, foreman, ganger, overlooker, overman, steward, supervisor, surveyor, viewer, warden), električar u filmskom studiju. (various references) | |
Spanish | vejete (codger), tío (beggar, bugger, chap, chappy, fellow, geezer, guy, merchant, uncle), soplador de vidrio (blower, footmaker, glassblower, glass-maker), soplador (blower, footmaker, glassblower, glass-maker, turbo blower), iluminista (electrician, illuminist, sparks), capataz (chief of party, clerk of works, deputy, first-line supervisor, foreman, ganger, inspector, official, overman, overseer, sub-foreman, supervisor, taskmaster), acabador (chairman, finisher, maker, workman). (various references) | |
Swedish | gamling (old man), förman (boss, foreman, headman, overman, overseer, superior, supervisor). (various references) | |
Thai | ชายแก่ (codger), หัวหน้าคนงาน. (various references) | |
Turkish | yaşlı adam (gray-headed, grey headed, oldster), moruk (baggage, dotard, gaga, geezer, old bag, pops), müdür (administrator, clerk, director, governor, guv, guvnor, head, intendant, manager, provost, supervisor, vice president, warden), şef (captain, chef, chief, clerk, commander, general, guv, guvnor, head, headman, principal, supervisor, taskmaster, top dog). (various references) | |
Ukranian | старий селянин, батечко, дядько (nuncle, nunky, uncle), десятник (boss, butty, ganger, gangsman, overman). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | ông gi (greybeard). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "gaffer": gaffers. (additional references) | |
| |
"Gaffer" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: affer, Gadfa, gafa, gafe, gafee, Gafer, gaffa, Gaffan, gaffee, gaffel, Gaffon, Gaffuri, gafter, gaufer, gauffe, gauffered, gauffred, gauffres, Geffery, Geffner, Ghafoor, giff, giffer, gifter, goafer, Goffer, guffbry, Jaffet, Taffner, Yaffe. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| Words rhyming with "gaffer" (pronounced 'Gaf"fer'): Afer, Chauffer, Fierasfer, gauffer, goffer, Graffer, Outsuffer, Zaffer. (additional references) |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-e-f-f-g-r" | |
-1 letter: gaffe. | |
-2 letters: ager, fare, fear, frae, frag, gaff, gear, raff, rage. | |
-3 letters: aff, age, are, arf, ear, eff, era, erg, fag, far, fer, gae, gar, rag, ref, reg. | |
-4 letters: ae, ag, ar, ef, er, fa, re. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-e-f-f-g-r" | |
+1 letter: agraffe, gaffers, gauffer, giraffe. | |
+2 letters: agraffes, firefang, gauffers, giraffes, suffrage. | |
+3 letters: firefangs, gauffered, suffrages. | |
+4 letters: affrighted, chaffering, firefanged, gauffering, reaffixing, restaffing. | |
+5 letters: afforesting, cliffhanger, firefanging, reaffirming, suffragette. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)47 61 66 66 65 72 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references)--. .- ..-. ..-. . .-. |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01000111 01100001 01100110 01100110 01100101 01110010 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)G a f f e r |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0047 0061 0066 0066 0065 0072 |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)416772727184 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Usage Frequency 8. Names: Frequency | 9. Expressions 10. Expressions: Internet 11. Translations: Modern 12. Derivations | 13. Rhymes 14. Anagrams 15. Orthography 16. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
