ould fella
- noun
- Irish
:
viejo
- Whenever I needed advice, I'd go straight to the ould fella for help.
Examples
-
The ould fella at the pub always tells great stories.
-
The village honored the ould fella on his ninetieth birthday with a special celebration.
-
The ould fella always sat by the fire, telling stories from his youth.
-
My grandfather is a typical ould fella with a big heart.
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The ould fella always sat by the fire, telling stories from his youth.
-
The village honored the ould fella on his ninetieth birthday with a special celebration.
-
My grandfather is a typical ould fella with a big heart.
Synonyms
42
8.0
A friendly way to call a man you know well
11
8.2
A friendly name people use for an older man in Britain
8
8.8
A joking, slightly rude name for an old man
3
2.1
An old small man who many people like
An older man people talk about in a loving way, often someone's father
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
ould + fella
The phrase is a straightforward composition of 'ould' (a dialectal spelling/pronunciation of 'old') + 'fella' (man), so the overall meaning 'an affectionate old man' is directly derivable from the constituents. Although the dialectal spelling 'ould' might look unfamiliar in writing, a learner who knows the constituent meanings can predict the phrase's sense; this pattern (old + man/fellow) is cross-linguistically common and thus transparently interpretable.
Etymology
Ould fella may come from the local way of saying old as ould and the friendly word fella for 'fellow'. This picture of a kind 'old' 'man' is why people use it as a friendly name for an older man.