Un"cle , n. An eldery man; -- used chiefly as a kindly or familiar appellation, esp. (Southern U. S.) for a worthy old negro; as, "Uncle Remus." [Colloq.]

Plain old uncle as he [Socrates] was, with his great ears, -- an immense talker. Emerson.

Un"cle (?), n. [OE. uncle, OF. oncle, uncle, F. oncle, fr. L. avunculus a maternal uncle, dim. of avus a grandfather; akin to Lith. avynas uncle, Goth. aw? grandmother, Icel. āi great grandfather.]

"1. The brother of ones father or mother; also applied to an aunts husband; -- the correlative of aunt in sex, and of nephew and niece in relationship."

2. A pawnbroker. [Slang] Thackeray.

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.

-- Webster's unabridged 1913