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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
gaffer
noun
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ I think the gaffer likes us to stay with the boys and be part of the build-up.
▪ If the gaffer decides to make changes, we know he's got a good back-up squad.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Gaffer

Gaffer \Gaf"fer\ (g[a^]f"f[~e]r), n. [Possibly contr. fr. godfather; but prob. fr. gramfer for grandfather. Cf. Gammer.]

  1. An old fellow; an aged rustic.

    Go to each gaffer and each goody.
    --Fawkes.

    Note: Gaffer was originally a respectful title, now degenerated into a term of familiarity or contempt when addressed to an aged man in humble life.

  2. A foreman or overseer of a gang of laborers. [Prov. Eng.]

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
gaffer

1580s, "elderly rustic," apparently (based on continental analogies) a contraction of godfather (compare gammer). Originally a term of respect, also applied familiarly; from "old man" it was extended by 1841 to foremen and supervisors, which sense carried over in early 20c. to "electrician in charge of lighting on a film set."

Wiktionary
gaffer

Etymology 1 n. 1 (context film English) A chief lighting technician for a motion-picture or television production. 2 A glassblower. Etymology 2

n. 1 (context colloquial English) An old man. 2 (context British English) A foreman. 3 An "Old Gaffer" is a sailor. 4 In Maritime regions "the Little Gaffer" is the baby in the house.

WordNet
gaffer
  1. n. an elderly man [syn: old-timer, oldtimer, old geezer, antique]

  2. an electrician responsible for lighting on a movie or tv set

  3. a person who exercises control over workers; "if you want to leave early you have to ask the foreman" [syn: foreman, chief, honcho, boss]

Wikipedia
Gaffer

Gaffer or Gaffa may refer to:

Gaffer (filmmaking)

A gaffer in the motion picture industry and on a television crew is the head electrician, responsible for the execution (and sometimes the design) of the lighting plan for a production. The term gaffer originally related to the moving of overhead equipment to control lighting levels using a gaff. The term has been used for the chief electrician in films since 1936 according to the Oxford English Dictionary. However, a book on motion picture production from 1929 refers to the chief electrician as the Gaffer. The gaffer's assistant is the best boy.

Sometimes the Gaffer is credited as Chief Lighting Technician (CLT).

The Gaffer is responsible for managing lighting, including associated resources such as labour, lighting instruments and electrical equipment under the direction of the Director of Photography (the DP or DOP) or, in television, the Lighting Director (LD).

The DP/LD is responsible for the overall lighting design, but delegates the implementation of the design to the Gaffer and the Key Grip. The Key Grip is the head grip, in charge of the labour and non-electrical equipment used to support and modify the lighting. Grip equipment includes stands, flags and gobos. The Gaffer will usually have an assistant called a best boy and, depending on the size of the job, crew members who are called " electricians", although not all of them are trained as electricians in the usual sense of the term.

Gaffers use gaffer tape, and several other types of tape. Other types of tape gaffers use include paper tape, pressure-sensitive tape (A.K.A. snot tape), electrical tape, J-LAR, and cloth tape.

Usage examples of "gaffer".

She felt leery of letting a male into her bedroom, but the gaffer seemed like someone she could beat eight ways to spring.

Whoever had opened the wall was not there when the gaffer unshielded the lantern.

Bryndel unfasten the straps and the gaffer extended his hand to help Bryndel down.

Bryndel accepted the gnarled old hand, discovering that the gaffer was surprisingly strong despite his obvious age.

Bryndel got to the beach, he extended the gaffer his hand in greeting.

It was not so much a matter of finding the gaffer as of letting him find her once he knew she was looking.

Rumor had it that Hinkty Molly and the gaffer had been more than friends and partners in the tavern.

As she had told the gaffer she lived to die, it was the way of her order.

He was affectionately known as the Gaffer from his working days as a ganger with the old LSER, now part of the nationalized railways.

The Gaffer listened to her with his mouth open, his knife and fork at a standstill.

The Gaffer chortled, Cassie prepared to put supper on the table, and Maureen replaced her photographs in the envelope.

Cassie accepted a sherry, Lewis a Coca-Cola, Maureen a daring port and lemon, the Gaffer half of old ale.

I positioned the clock on it so it was directly below the infrared sensor on the set and secured it in place with gaffer tape.

A bit more rooting about turned up a roll of gaffer tape in a kitchen drawer and I used it to make a parcel out of Vincey.

The Gaffer himself, like a king enthroned among his subjects, sat on a stool beside his doorway, smoking a pipe, and watching the world pass by.