mature+years

  • 131boy, old —    Used by British speakers to address a man of any age in a friendly way, whether the man concerned is known to them already or not. The Oxford English Dictionary, under ‘today’, quotes a journalist in 1864 to the effect that ‘“Old boy”, as a… …

    A dictionary of epithets and terms of address

  • 132innocent —    In occasional use as a vocative, with various meanings. It appears to mean ‘one who is free of guilt’ when Edgar, in Shakespeare’s King Lear (3:vi), says: ‘Pray, innocent, and beware the foul fiend.’ It often means ‘one of child like… …

    A dictionary of epithets and terms of address