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• goodman
  goodman

  noun

  the master of a household; husband.
• Goodman
  Goodman

  noun

  Benjamin David Benny, 1909–86, U.S. jazz clarinetist and bandleader.

goodman

¹ American  

[good-muhn] / ˈgʊd mən /

noun

Archaic.

goodmen plural

1. the master of a household; husband.

2. (initial capital letter) a title of respect used for a man below the rank of gentleman, especially a farmer or yeoman.

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Goodman ² American  

[good-muhn] / ˈgʊd mən /

noun

1. Benjamin David Benny, 1909–86, U.S. jazz clarinetist and bandleader.

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goodman ¹ British  

/ ˈɡʊdmən /

noun

1. a husband

2. a man not of gentle birth: used as a title

3. a master of a household

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Goodman ² British  

/ ˈɡʊdmən /

noun

1. Benny, full name Benjamin David Goodman. 1909–86, US jazz clarinetist and bandleader, whose treatment of popular songs created the jazz idiom known as swing

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Etymology

Origin of goodman

Middle English word dating back to 1125–75; see origin at good, -man

Example Sentences

Both Manuel Quezon and goodman Osme�a were mum last week.

From Time Magazine Archive

Why, I know time is, and that thou shalt hear, goodman kettle jaws.

From Amusing Prose Chap Books by Various

Upon my honor, this little goodman is very fractious.

From The Barber of Paris by Kock, Charles Paul de

The price of wheat, goodman Dickon?—how fatten your pigs?—will the fine weather last, think you?

From Judith Shakespeare Her love affairs and other adventures by Black, William

The woman, faint-hearted and overmastered by a nameless dread, cried out to the goodman to ride for life—the woods were full of devils.

From Nooks and Corners of the New England Coast by Drake, Samuel Adams

Related Words

• head of the house
• householder