man, noun1 and & interjection

Forms:
Also mann.
Origin:
Dutch, AfrikaansShow more Translation of Dutch (later Afrikaans) man man, husband.
A. noun A husband.
1798 Lady A. Barnard in Lord Lindsay Lives of Lindsays (1849) III. 465In this house I saw the first trait of female industry, the vrows being employed in making clothes for their ‘men’.
1829 C. Rose Four Yrs in Sn Afr. 263The wife broke out, ‘You lament a brother, and you a child, but I have lost my man.’
a1858 J. Goldswain Chron. (1949) II. 4One of them told her to look out for her man — meaning her husband — should kill her that night.
1899 J.G. Millais Breath from Veldt 133 (Swart)My man is too good-natured, and people humbug him; but once roused he is the devil.
1902 The Intelligence Officer On Heels of De Wet 52‘Where is your man?’ asked the Tiger.
1920 R.Y. Stormberg Mrs Pieter de Bruyn 72The country lady strolls in to buy a hat, grabs at anything she likes,..tells them to put it down to her ‘man’s’ account.
1926 P. Smith Beadle (1929) 167She had in readiness also both her shroud and her coffin and the shroud and the coffin of her ‘man’.
1937 S. Cloete Turning Wheels 35Danke kerls. Ja, baie danke for bringing back my man.
1946 P. Abrahams Mine Boy (1954) 15He is the brother of my man, Leah replied.
1947 C.R. Prance Antic Mem. 91The eldest, a widow whose man had fallen on the British side in the war, apologized for Pa.
1967 E.M. Slatter My Leaves Are Green 127She nodded ponderously. ‘My man has a place on the high bank there..’ and she pointed down the creek.
1970 Farmer’s Weekly 16 Dec. 61‘How is your man, Mevrou?’ he asked anxiously.
1975 E. Prov. Herald 6 June 12Her man is..balancing 10 metres up on a rickety platform surrounded by lethal galvanised sails.
B. interjection Frequently in the phrase ag man /ax -/ [Afrikaans], an interjection used (regardless of the gender of the one being addressed) for emphasis, to express irritation or frustration, or pleadingly. Hence noun, an utterance of this phrase. See also ag.
1897 E. Glanville in E.R. Seary S. Afr. Short Stories (1947) 20‘Man,’ said Lanky John, the ostrich farmer, ‘I killed a snake, a ringhals, yesterday morning back of the kraal, and in the evening when I went by there was a live ringhals coiled round the dead one.’
1900 F.R.M. Cleaver in M.M. Cleaver Young S. Afr. (1913) 73Man! I wish you were here!
1912 E. London Dispatch 13 Feb. 3With many mans! and other fashionable interjections they carry on their brainy conversation.
1913 C. Pettman Africanderisms 309Man, An exclamatory form of address in common use all over South Africa, employed often enough quite irrespective of either the age or the sex of the person addressed.
1948 O. Walker Kaffirs Are Lively 48The people iss too poor, man.
1960 C. Hooper Brief Authority 76Man, Padre, they will like it over there, where they can grow things and live as in the reserve.
1965 K. Mackenzie Deserter 22Come on, help him get up, man Sannie! What are you just standing there for?
1966 J. Taylor Mommy I’d Like to Be’. (lyrics)Ag man, won’t you come down to the shops, we’ll have some fun.
1972 Sunday Times 3 Dec. (Mag. Sect.) 15Agh man lady, there’s nothing nobody can do.
1975 Darling 9 Apr. 95‘Ag, dry up, Trix, man,’ I hiss.
1985 Frontline Aug. 54I realise I could have been killed and that. I think jissus man, what was I doing?
1988 M. Orson in Fair Lady 16 Mar. 128Oh man Lisa, your nails are digging into my arm again man.
1989 H. Hamman in Scope 24 Mar. 57Man, I look at those guys who have just come off selection and they think they’re through the worst.
1989 J. Hobbs Thoughts in Makeshift Mortuary 311Don’t take a huff now, Rose, man. We haven’t got time for a fight.
1994 C. Harper in Flying Springbok June 108‘Ag Man’ is a South Africanism meaning ‘oh dear’ or, alternatively ‘get lost, you idiot’.
A husband.
Frequently in the phrase ag man /ax -/ [Afrikaans],an interjection used (regardless of the gender of the one being addressed) for emphasis, to express irritation or frustration, or pleadingly. Hence noun, an utterance of this phrase.
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