coot, you old

coot, you old
   A friendly insult, comparing the person addressed (usually a man) to the water-bird known as a coot, or more accurately, to one of the several birds loosely known by this name. One of them is bald, hence the proverbial ‘bald as a coot’. One is reputed to be rather stupid. It is the latter comparison which is usually being made when the vocative is used. ‘Glad to see you, you old coot,’ says an American to an old friend in The Mackerel Plaza, by Peter de Vries.

A dictionary of epithets and terms of address . . 2015.

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