fogy

American  

[foh-gee] / ˈfoʊ gi /

Or fogey

noun

• fogies
  plural

1. an excessively conservative or old-fashioned person, especially one who is intellectually dull (usually preceded byold ).

   The board of directors were old fogies still living in the 19th century.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• fogyism
  noun
• fogyish
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• fogies
  plural

Etymology

Origin of fogy

First recorded in 1770–80; origin uncertain

Explanation

A fogy is an old fashioned, boring, unstylish person. You might accuse your dad of being an old fogy if he tells you to turn down your music. You can spell the word fogy or fogey — either way, you're probably talking about an older person, and you're definitely talking about a dull, conservative person. The word comes from the Scottish foggie, and it originally meant "an army veteran." Fogy may be related to the antiquated slang word fogram, "old fashioned person," or from an early, now obscure meaning of fog, "bloated fat."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

fogy fogies

Consequently, throughout the 1970s and ’80s Wilson was viewed as a Tory, a young fogy.

From Washington Post ● Nov. 23, 2022

But Laurent Pelly’s searing staging, produced with the Vienna State Opera, crisply played and superbly cast, showed that a fogy can burn with as much — if not more — fire as something fresh.

From New York Times ● Sep. 24, 2018

I comfortably describe myself as an old fogy.

From Slate ● Feb. 6, 2018

Slopen, a young fogy, explains this novel’s sensibility, somewhat, by stating that his father was technically a Victorian.

From New York Times ● Feb. 13, 2014

He decried himself as a stupid, ugly old fogy; and she cried him up as the wisest and most beautiful and best of men.

From In a Little Town by Rupert Hughes

“What it says for old fogies like me, is that the young are hungry for the word of God,” said Oldham, who is in his 40s.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 2, 2024

They moved from Midtown after a realization in their old building’s elevator that all of their neighbors were “a bunch of old fogies like us,” as Silverstein put it.

From New York Times ● Nov. 22, 2021

Time and sorrow may make fogies of us all.

From Slate ● Feb. 9, 2021

But in our multiple-exclamation-pointed, totally amazing, but like oh-em-gee, the worst society, this kind of over-the-top rhetoric is what passes for what we old fogies used to call “contrast” in elections.

From Fox News ● Aug. 28, 2020

In the Weimar days the general objection of the "old fogies" was that his music lacked melody.

From Memories of a Musical Life by William Mason