gaffer
UK /ɡæfə/ · US /ɡæfɚ/ noun, proper noun
Forms gaffers
- noun (film) A chief lighting technician for a motion-picture or television production.
- noun A glassblower.
- noun Someone aboard a boat whose duty is to gaff a (large) fish once the angler has reeled it in.
- noun (colloquial) An old person, usually a man.
- noun (UK, informal) The leader of a group or team, such as a boss, foreman, coach, or publican.
- noun A sailor.
- noun (Canada) The baby in the house.
- proper noun A surname.
Synonyms
old-timer oldtimer old geezer antique foreman chief honcho boss
Etymology
* (cinema): The natural lighting on early film sets was adjusted by opening and closing flaps in the tent cloths, called gaff cloths or gaff flaps.
Likely a contraction of godfather, but with the vowels influenced by grandfather. Compare French compère, German Gevatter.
Compare also Old English ġefædera (“godfather”), of which some unattested dialectal descendant may have been an influence.
Webster’s 1913
Etymology [Possibly contr. fr. godfather; but prob. fr. gramfer for grandfather. Cf. Gammer.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “gaffer”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details