Uncle
Uncle , noun
[Old English uncle, Old French oncle, uncle, French oncle, from Latin avunculus a maternal uncle, dim. of avus a grandfather; akin to Lithuanian avynas uncle, Gothic aw{not transcribed} grandmother, Icelandic āi great grandfather.]
1.
The brother of one's father or mother; also applied to an aunt's husband; -- the correlative of aunt in sex, and of nephew and niece in relationship.
2.
A pawnbroker. [Slang] — Thackeray
3.
An eldery man; -- used chiefly as a kindly or familiar appellation, esp. (Southern U. S.) for a worthy old negro; as, “Uncle Remus.” [Colloquial]
Plain old uncle as he [Socrates] was, with his great ears, -- an immense talker.
Collocations (2)
My uncle , a pawnbroker. [Slang]
Uncle Sam , a humorous appellation given to the United States Government. See Uncle Sam, in Dictionary of Noted Names in Fiction.