sugar daddy

[ shoog-er dad-ee ]

noun

, Slang.

, plural sug·ar dad·dies.

1. a wealthy man who spends freely on a younger person, generally a woman or a gay man, in return for companionship or sexual intimacy. Compare sugar baby def, sugar mama def.

sugar daddy

noun

1. slang.
   a rich usually middle-aged or old man who bestows expensive gifts on a young person in return for companionship or sexual favours

Word History and Origins

Origin of sugar daddy¹

First recorded in 1915–20

Idioms and Phrases

A wealthy, usually older man who gives expensive gifts to someone much younger in return for companionship or sexual favors. For example, The aspiring young actress and the sugar daddy are a classic combination in Hollywood . The sugar in this term alludes to the sweetening role of the gifts, and daddy to the age difference between the pair. [Early 1900s]

Example Sentences

I didn’t want to have to become a businessperson, but that is what — without a sugar daddy or a trust fund, and outside the confines of academia — being an artist does to you.

From Salon

Ammar Moussa, a Harris campaign spokesman, dismissed the X event as a platform for lies, characterizing Trump and his “billionaire sugar daddy” as “infamous for their relationship with the truth.”

From Los Angeles Times

As the financial sugar daddy of research overseas that created COVID.

From Los Angeles Times

He's the sugar daddy who allows the American Mercury to stay afloat, and he's a rabid antisemite.

From Salon

After his father died, Trump got a new sugar daddy, in the form of NBC producer Mark Burnett.

From Salon