Meaning & use
geezer
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Meanings
nouncountableinformalslangAmerican
An elderly man, often described in a mildly teasing way.
Grammar: Usually describes older men: an old geezer.
Patterns
- an old geezer
An old geezer sat on the bench feeding the pigeons.
The geezer next door tells great stories about the war.
He grumbled like a cranky old geezer.
nouncountableinformalslangBritish
A man of any age, often with a friendly or tough tone.
Grammar: Common in British speech; not always about age.
Patterns
- a decent geezer
- some geezer
He is a decent geezer and will help you.
Some geezer in a van offered me a lift.
The barman is a proper geezer.
Word forms
| plural | geezers |
|---|
Common combinations
- old geezer
- The old geezer told us about the town's history.
- decent geezer
- He turned out to be a decent geezer.
- cheerful geezer
- A cheerful geezer waved from the stall.
- cranky geezer
- He's a cranky geezer who hates noise.
- a bit of a geezer
- He is a bit of a geezer, always in a flat cap.
Synonyms and how they differ
- fellow
- Fellow is milder and slightly old-fashioned, whereas geezer is slangy.
- bloke
- Bloke is British and has no age implication, unlike the American geezer.
- codger
- Codger always suggests an old, eccentric man and is more teasing than geezer.
- guy
- Guy is the plain everyday word for a man and carries no extra tone.
Opposites
Word family
- geezerhood noun
- the state of being an old man, used jokingly
- gee-whiz adjective
- unrelated, expressing wonder
Commonly confused: geezer or geyser?
geezer vs geyser
A geyser is a hot spring that shoots water into the air. It sounds similar in American English but is spelled differently.
Practice
In American English, calling someone an old geezer mostly means he is ___.
Choose one answer.
In American use geezer suggests an old man. The other options are not part of the meaning.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “geezer”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.