Good'mān, n.
n. 1. A familiar appellation of civility, equivalent to “My friend,” “Good sir,” “Mister”;—sometimes used ironically.
With you, goodman boy, if you please. Shak.
Sense 2. A husband; the master of a house or family;—often used in speaking familiarly.
Say ye to the goodman of the house,...Where is the guest-chamber? Mark xiv. 14.
In the early colonial records of New England, the term goodman is frequently used as a title of designation, sometimes in a respectful manner, to denote a person whose first name was not known, or when it was not desired to use that name; in this use it was nearly equivalent to Mr. This use was doubtless brought with the first settlers from England.
It is ordered that Thomas Saule shall agree with Goodman Spinnage before the next court, or else the court will determine the difference between them.
New Haven Colonial Records, 1639.