matey

1. (informal) Diminutive of mate, friend.Examples: "Hello, matey, just back from the pub?"; "“No, no, matey, I means no harm. Ye see, I think I done ye a bad turn onst, an′ I′m minded t′ do ye right afore I goes off. You bring a writer here, matey, an′ I′ll tell ye what.”"; "1920, Francis Stevens (Gertrude Barrows Bennett), Claimed, 2009, Munsey′s, page 49, And take my advice, matey. When yer buys it, don′t yer make Lutz′s mistake and think yer can wriggle out easy."diminutiveform-ofinformal

2. (nautical, slang) A fellow sailor; often used affectedly, especially when portraying a pirate.Examples: "Ahoy mateys, scrub the deck!"; "c. 1906, Herbert Strang (pseudonym), In Clive′s Command, 2006, Echo Library, page 35, “Well, we are and we en′t, eh, mateys? The Waterman′s Rest en′t exactly the kind of place to spend shore leave; it en′t a patch on Wapping or Rotherhithe. […] ”"; "“Well, Mateys,” he said, “heave to. Rum for all.” The pirates grabbed their bottles, and as they drank they began to sing and laugh and shout at each other."slang

3. (nautical, slang) A dockyard worker.Examples: "He got the dockyard 'mateys' to install a primitive form of steam heating which he had seen in Navy ships […]"; "Mediterranean peoples are thought to be excitable, but the Maltese stood up to the blitz with great aplomb, especially the dghaisa men who plowed back and forth across the harbours regardless of the raids, the mateys who made the devastated dockyard work, and all who served in units of the armed forces."slang