gaffer vs adult male

gaffer and adult male both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
gaffer	Yes	No	No	No
adult male	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, adult male is a hypernym of gaffer; that is, adult male is a word with a broader meaning than gaffer:

Other hypernyms of gaffer include man, supervisor.

gaffer (noun)	adult male (noun)
a person who exercises control over workers	an adult person who is male (as opposed to a woman)
an elderly man
an electrician responsible for lighting on a movie or tv set