fogy, fogey
(ˈfəʊgɪ)
Forms: 8–9 fogey, fogie, 9 fogy, Sc. foggie.
[Possibly a subst. use of foggy a. in sense 3, fat, bloated, or in sense 2, moss-grown. Cf. foggie and fogram.]
1. Sc. An invalid or garrison soldier.
| 1785 Grose Dict. Vulg. Tongue, Fogey, old fogey, a nick name for an invalid soldier. 1808 in Jamieson. 1867 in Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. |
2. (Orig. Sc.) A disrespectful appellation for a man advanced in life; esp. one with antiquated notions, an old-fashioned fellow, one ‘behind the times’. Usually preceded by old. See also young fogey.
| 1780 J. Mayne Siller Gun i. (1808) 117 Foggies the zig⁓zag followers sped, But scarce had power To keep some..Frae stoit'rin ower. 1790 Scots Songs II. 56 Now ilka lad has got a lass, Save yon auld doited fogie. 1821 Galt Ayrsh. Legatees 217 They're just a whin auld fogies that Mr. Andrew describes. 1848 Thackeray Bk. Snobs xxxvii, The honest rosy old fogies. 1857 Kingsley Two Y. Ago (1877) 262 Jesting at him about his old fogies. |
| transf. 1862 Shirley Nugæ Crit. xi. 483 The classic ‘old fogies’ on my shelves began to look very dingy to me. |
3. U.S. colloq. [Cf. sense 1.] (See quot.)
| 1881 L. R. Hamersly Naval Encycl., Fogy, an increase of pay due to length of service. |
4. attrib. use of n. passing into adj.
| 1852 Democr. Rev. XXX. 207 The fogy atmosphere of Washington makes cowards of you all. 1865 Trans. Ill. Agric. Soc. 1862–4 V. 691 We flaunt our labor-saving farm machinery in the faces of slow and fogy Germany. 1887 T. A. Trollope What I remember I. ii. 51 The younger generation..ridicules much the old fogey narrowness. 1892 Daily News 8 June 2/3 With a smile which the old fogiest of curmudgeons could not resist. |
¶ See also old-fogyish, -fogyism s.v. old a. E. 2.