1836. Dickens, Pickwick, ch. xx. p. 169. ‘You’re quite certain it was them, governor?’ inquired Mr. Weller, junior. ‘Quite, Sammy, quite,’ replied his father. [[190]]
1841. Punch, vol. I., p. 28. But—mind! don’t tell the governor!
1852. Comic Almanack, p. 19. Your father: Speaking to him, say ‘Guvnor,’ or ‘Old Strike-a-light;’ of him, ‘The old un.’
1859. Witty Political Portraits, p. 111. Unconscious of the constitutional delusions on which his governor has thrived.
1889. Answers, 20 Apr., p. 323. To call your father ‘The Governor’ is, of course, slang, and is as bad as referring to him as ‘The Boss,’ ‘The Old Man,’ or ‘The Relieving Officer.’
1891. Licensed Vict. Gaz., 9 Jan. It was mortifying to be done in that manner by a low fellow like Muggins, that I had always looked upon as a fool, and had made a butt of when the guv. was out of the way.
1892. Hume Nisbet, Bushranger’s Sweetheart, p. 118. The Governor is in an awful funk about him.
2. (common).—A mode of address to strangers. Fr., bourgeois.
1892. Anstey, Voces Populi (Second Series). ‘At the Guelph Exhibition.’ Right, guvnor; we’ll come.
3. (colloquial).—A master or superior; an employer.