Old Man

Old Man

1. A title given to the personification of a force of nature or abstract concept, such as Old Man Winter or Old Man River.
   • 1919, The American Produce Review, volume 47, page 773:

     But it was really Old Man Concentration and his partner, Co-operation, that put across the big clean-up.

   • 2019, Thornton Burgess, Old Mother West Wind Collection, page 471:

     Big-Horn hadn't been told whom he was to fight, and when he found that it was Old Man Coyote, he was disappointed.

2. A creator god in some Native American mythologies.
   • 2012, Caspar Henderson, The Book of Barely Imagined Beings, page 249:

     The Wiyot say that Condor recreated mankind after Old Man wiped out humanity with a flood.