fogy

a stodgy, old-fashioned, or excessively conservative person, esp. one who is intellectually dull: She was just an old fogy who wouldn’t let her granddaughter wear an earring in her nose.

Not to be confused with:

foggy – indistinct; bewildered; blurred as if by fog; not clear; vague: I haven’t the foggiest notion of what she meant.; thick with or having much fog; misty: a foggy day in London town.

fo·gy

or fo·gey (fō′gē)

n. pl. fo·gies or fo·geys

A person of stodgy or old-fashioned habits and attitudes.

[Originally 18th-century slang, invalid soldier, perhaps diminutive (with suffix -y) of earlier fogram, fogy (of unknown origin) or perhaps from Scots foggie, old soldier (possibly from foggie, mossy, covered from moss or lichen, from fog, moss, lichen, from Middle English fogge, grass left uncut in the field for winter grazing; see fog²).]

fo′gy·ish adj.

fo′gy·ism n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

fo•gy

or fo•gey

(ˈfoʊ gi)

n., pl. -gies or -geys.

an extremely old-fashioned or conservative person (usu. prec. by old).

[1770–80; orig. uncertain]

fo′gy•ish, adj.

fo′gy•ism, n.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

fogy - someone whose style is out of fashion

dodo, fogey, fossil

colloquialism - a colloquial expression; characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech

golden ager, old person, oldster, senior citizen - an elderly person

fogy

noun

An old-fashioned person who is reluctant to change or innovate:

fossil, fuddy-duddy, mossback.

Informal: stick-in-the-mud.

Slang: square.