boss n.2
1. (also bosshead, bossman, bozz) the master (or mistress), the manager, the person in charge.
 | Early Voyage New Netherlands in Schele De Vere (1872) 91: Here they had their first interview with the female boss or supercargo of the vessel. | |
| [ | ![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | Sporting Mag. Aug. VI 236/2: A dog fight [...] between Mr. Sparrow’s dog, Boss, and Mr. Trovey’s dog, Cubit.]. |
| letter May 26 Life and Letters (1862) I 171: By the time I had finished the letter, I had completely forgotten the errand I was sent on; so I had to return, make an awkward apology to boss, and look like a nincompoop. | |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | in Sketches of America 59: Now I reckon you do not know that my boss would not have a single ugly or clever gentleman come to his store, if he cut coloured men; now my boss, I guess, ordered me to turn out every coloured man from the store right away, and if I did not he would send me off slick. | |
| Owl (NY) 14 Aug. n.p.: [T]hose base deceivers, called bosses. | |
| Congressional Globe 13 July 191: The boss had been in for a few moments; but, finding his hands absent, he had left. | |
| in Slave Testimony (1977) 297: Master’s name was Sowers; we used to call him ‘old Boss’. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | Melbourne Punch 20 Nov. 3/2: Boss —Noun. A cove, a beak, a guvnor, a nob, an old ’un, a big-wig etc. | |
| N.Y. Times 2 Aug. 3/8: The ‘boss,’ or madam looks on smilingly as the bar is patronized, or the ‘bob’ handed up by the male dancer. | |
| Sl. Dict. 361: We have had such a Dowry of Parny that it completely Stumped Drory the Bossman’s Patter. | |
| Five Years’ Penal Servitude 189: Little Jemmy, the master-tailor, was a principal warder, as was also the master-shoemaker, and they were each ‘Boss’ over their own shops. | |
| Vagabond Papers (3rd series) 78: The Jews, who supply them with their finery, [...] are in league with the ‘bossees’ of the ‘gay houses.’. | |
| Forty Years a Gambler 11: I told my story to the boss, and he took sides with me. | |
| Dead Bird (Sydney) 14 Sept. 7/4: The wife of one of the ‘bosses’ of the Chinese Six Companies of San Francisco. | |
| ‘Bogg of Geebung’ in Roderick (1972) 22: The boss bully unbuttoned his coat. | |
| Hooligan Nights 38: It’s very kind of you to symperfise wiv us, boss. | |
| Actors’ Boarding House (1906) 30: The ladies who came to afternoon tea or to late suppers with ‘the boss’. | |
| ‘His Unconquerable Soul’ in Roderick (1972) 811: His ‘boss’ [...] used to come and see him occasionally. | |
| Adventures of a Boomer Op. 31: The boss told him was fired. | |
| ‘The Hobo’s Last Lament’ in Hobo’s Hornbook 75: And when you wants a ride, / The Boss Con says, a-smilin’, / ‘Podner, won’t you get inside?’. | |
| What’s In It For Me? 218: Say, Harry, where’s at the boss of the joint? | |
| ‘Solid Meddlin’’ in People’s Voice (NY) 14 Mar. 33/2: A hint to Bossman Smalls that Jimmy Mordecai wouldn’t be a bad insertion [...] as MC. | |
| Really the Blues 149: The bosses [...] soon put some tables and chairs down in the cellar. | |
| Tomboy (1952) 111: You can take it from there, Tomboy. You’re the boss. | |
| ‘Keep on Walkin’’ 🎵 The bossman was so mean, you know, I worked just like a slave. | |
| Bunch of Ratbags 39: Now that old Robbie was gone we would have to keep really sweet with this boss-bloke. | |
| Howard Street 30: Hip showed these qualities only when the boss was around. | |
| Inner City Hoodlum 204: He had never known his boss to run out on trouble. | |
| Down and Out 37: The Trusty had told me she was his ‘boss’, and she was all right. | |
| Rivethead (1992) 110: ‘Don’t worry,’ some bosshead offered, ‘we’ll pull her out of there. Everybody else just get back to work.’. | |
![[Ire]](/static/img/flags/ire.png "Ireland") | The Joy (2015) [ebook] A huge guy who seemed to be the bossman. | |
| Breakfast on Pluto 18: I loved that, for some reason — her being the boss. | |
| Guardian Editor 7 Jan. 12: The gang bosses are history. | |
![[NZ]](/static/img/flags/nz.png "New Zealand") | Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 28/1: the boss 1 the head prison officer currently on duty. 2 the prison Site Manager (formerly the Superintendent). | |
| Hard Bounce [ebook] ‘Who’s the boss-man on this cluster fuck?’. | |
| Guardian G2 3 July 6/3: I’m the boss [...] the boss of the whole operation. | |
| theculturetrip.com ‘Guide to London Slang 10 Jan. 🌐 Boss man – normally how someone greets a corner shop owner. | |
| (ed.) ‘Drill Slang Glossary’ at Forensic Linguistic Databank 🌐 Bozz - leader. | |
| Boyo-wulf at https://boyowulf.home.blog 20 Mar. 🌐 [P]ulling the mead-seats out from under their arses, scaring the shit out of the boss-men. | |
| Man-Eating Typewriter 232: [T]o scrape by without having to bow before the Boss Man. |
2. (US) an exceptional person; often in context of fashion.
| Bird o’ Freedom (Sydney) 21 Mar. 5/1: He’s but an M.P. of the usual brand / But a boss at litigation. | |
| et al. CUSS 87: Boss A sexually attractive person. A well-dressed person. | |
| (ed.) UNC-CH Campus Sl. 2011 1: BOSS — someone stylish, in the know: ‘You are such a boss rocking those shoes and hat together’. |
3. (orig. US, also bossman) a term of address, esp. to a man whose name one does not know.
| Adventures of Harry Franco I 31: ‘Why don’t you get in, boss?’ said one of the men on the dock. | |
| Recollections of G. Hamlyn (1891) 195: ‘So, boss,’ began the ruffian, not looking at him, ‘we ain’t fit company for the likes of that kinchin, — eh?’. | |
| St Louis Globe-Democrat 19 Jan. n.p.: The young man of today, when he enters a saloon [...] is liable, as his first demonstration, to salute the bar-keeper with some such remark as, ‘Hello Boss.’ This is often varied , and such highsounding names as ‘Senator,’ ‘Governor,’ ‘General,’ ‘Colonel’, ‘Major’, ‘Captain’, ‘Judge’, ‘Duke’, ‘Deacon’ made to rtake the place of the word ‘Boss’. | |
| Life on the Mississippi (1914) 497: You’ll be in plenty time, boss. | |
| letter Sept. to ed. of Central News Agency in Evans & Skinner Jack the Ripper (2001) 16-17: Dear Boss, I keep on hearing the police have caught me but they won’t fix me just yet. [...] I am down on whores and I shant quit ripping them till I do get buckled. Grand work the last job was. I gave the lady no time to squeal. | |
| Bulletin (Sydney) 12 July 9/2: Traveller: ‘I say, boss, is there any empty hut a cove could camp in to-night? It looks like rain.’ Squatter: ‘Well, yes, there’s the Chinamen’s hut down there; you can doss with them if they’ll let you – I don’t object.’. | |
| Actors’ Boarding House (1906) 49: So long, boss. Come and see us again! | |
| ‘A Municipal Report’ in Strictly Business (1915) 150: Well, boss, I don’t really reckon there’s anything at all doin’ after sundown. | |
| Ulysses 595: Take a bit of doing, boss, retaliated that rough diamond palpably a bit peeved in response to the foregoing truism. | |
| Life and Death at the Old Bailey 291: ‘Strike me dead, boss!’ said the cabby. | |
| (con. 1910s) Heed the Thunder (1994) 145: Yes, sir, boss. Now you want something cold? | |
| Small Time Crooks 89: ‘Which way are you headin’?’ ‘Uptown, boss. But I’m hired.’. | |
| Big Gold Dream 137: It began like this, boss. | |
| Spike Island (1981) 64: A taxi draws up alongside them. ‘A’right, boss?’. | |
| Yardie 16: You get off here, boss. | |
| Rope Burns 88: ‘You could go to school. I’d drive you.’ Maggie would nod. ‘I know you would, boss.’. | |
| (ed.) UNC-CH Campus Sl. Spring 2014 2: BOSSMAN — friend: ‘What’s up, bossman?’ Often used in greeting. | |
| Widespread Panic 7: I’m beefcake, boss, and bangin’ them bonaroo bitches. |
4. a ‘criminal mastermind’.
| Golden Butterfly I 193: You may scheme for it like a Boss in a whisky-ring. | |
| Black Mask (1992) 199: This old sinner Corbucci turns out to have been no end of a boss in the Camorra – says so himself. | |
| City Of The World 259: He’s the Boss. | |
| Rough Stuff 205: Two gorillas came and cornered me [...] and told me that if I wanted to work this racket I should have to see the big Boss. | |
| Phenomena in Crime 39: The biggest thieves’ kitchen in the East End, controlled by a person referred to as ‘The Boss’. | |
| Joyful Condemned 171: I’ve only to pass the word to some of the boss’s boys, and you won’t find this such a good sitting-place either. | |
| Guardian Guide 2–8 Oct. 89: See you when I’m the boss and you’re the champ. |
5. (Aus./US prison) a prison warder.
| Eve. News (Sydney) 27 Apr. 7/3: He ran into the wing and told one of the ‘bosses.’ Four of the warders came out and asked me to go into the wing. | |
| Blind Lemon Jefferson ‘Prison Cell Blues’ [lyics] Got a red-eyed captain and a squabblin’ boss / Got a mad-dog sergeant, honey, and he won’t knock off. | |
| et al. DAUL 32/2: Boss. (P) A term used by inmates to address any prison official. | |
| Get Your Ass in the Water (1974) 155: The sign on the gate said Huntsville State, / with bullring of brass that glossed like glass. / Now, she wondered, was it real, all that cement and steel, / the machine gun, the picket, the boss? | |
| Death Row 121: You can walk around and talk to the bosses and the warden. | |
| Aus. Prison Sl. Gloss. 🌐 Boss. Usually referring to prison officers, but a form of address by prisoners to almost anyone not wearing prisoner’s clothes. Has insincere overtones because it is employed by prisoners when addressing staff but not when discussing them. | |
| Prison Sl. 95: Boss also Boss Man A prison guard. | |
| Other Side of the Wall: Prisoner’s Dict. July 🌐 Boss: An officer — some say in it is ‘sorry son of a bitch’ spelled backwards. | |
| Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 28/1: boss n. 1 a prison officer. |
6. (UK tramp) a farmer, thus boss-crib, farmhouse.
| Birmingham Dly Post 31 Mar. 3/4: I append a few cant words and expressions as a curiosity for those who take an interest in the subject: [...] boss-crib (farm-house), boss (farmer). |
7. (UK prison) a prison governor.
| Tramp-Royal on the Toby 212: When our name was called we had to step briskly up to the desk, behind which stood the Big Brass Boss. |
8. a heroin wholesaler.
| Monkey On My Back (1954) 164: Most of them were ‘junkies’ selling for the ‘bosses’ – non-users who employed addicts to distribute heroin. |
9. (US black) female-to-male fellatio [the dominant role of the male as ‘boss’].
| Ebonics Primer at www.dolemite.com 🌐 boss Definition: to have a bitch suck yo dick Example: Yo bitch, bring yo hood-rat azz ove’ here and gimme some boss. |
10. (US black) a man.
| Running the Books 82: A bitch like me can't be stuck on chuck, the boss is lost, for nada. |
In compounds
(US black) the senior member of a pimp’s ‘stable’ of whores.
| Pimp 210: When his boss bitch turns sour [...] all the other bitches in the stable flee. | |
| Call of the Weird (2006) 181: He’d married his ‘boss bitch’. |
(S.Afr.) a black foreman or overseer in charge of subordinate black workers.
| Daily Chronicle (UK) 11 Apr. 3: One white man in the mine is expected to ‘boss’ forty blacks or Chinese, which he cannot do with safety, in fact the black ‘boss-boy’ is left to do much of the blasting [DSAE]. | |
| [ | ![[SA]](/static/img/flags/sa.png "South Africa") | Leaven 262: I am Bulalie, the baas’s head boy] . |
| A Wanderer’s Trail 235: A miner may do it once, might do it twice, but the third time will surely see him and his boss-boy getting a quick despatch to Kingdom Come. | |
| Bayete! 119: Munyati was the boss-boy on the farm, a man of forty-five years of age. | |
| Consider Africa 41: With fifteen others he is put under an African foreman called a boss-boy who takes his orders from a white overseer. | |
| Making of Modern New Guinea 219: The average plantation has four boss boys to carry out the instructions of the white manager. | |
| Apes and Ivory 187: The [...] boss boy, who was alone in a seam when he saw a figure with a light running towards a drop of a thousand feet to certain death. | |
| Comparative Social Problems 358: The term ‘boss boy’ is used on the Copperbelt to describe an African who has been placed in charge of a gang of African labourers. | |
| Marabi Dance 41: Rooiveldt Daries opened new branches [...] and July was sent as ‘boss-boy’ to the East London branch. | |
| [ | | First South African 42: Even that job now, being a baas boy, you got under false pretences]. |
| Ants 24: BOSS-BOY Ja, baas. We are happy to serve the masters. 6th SENATOR Why do you beat your friends? BOSS-BOY It pleases the masters. They are very lazy, master. | |
| Children of Twilight 43: Ou Johannes had been Ferreira’s ‘boss-boy’ in the old days. | |
| In the Fog of the Seasons’ End 69: ‘The company pay me to do my job.’ ‘Ah, so youse a boss-boy, hey?’. | |
| Nothing Rhymes with Silver 66: And then, I want that bastard of a Zulu boss-boy beaten up for taking such such advantage of those girls. |
(US black) a white man, esp. in authority.
| Burn, Killer, Burn! 278: You’re a glorified stool pigeon for Boss Charlie. | |
| Essential Lenny Bruce 32: Nor would they send their children to tap-dancing school to entertain Boss Charley. | |
| Cross of Lassitude 333: Baby, you know how them old ‘Boss Charlie’ whiteys are ... ? |
1. (Aus.) a farmer who employs labour and still works.
| Unsophisticated Rhymes 5: The iron heel you know; ’Tis Boss-Cokie Law Fit for an Indian squaw [AND]. | |
| Bulletin (Sydney) 1 Dec. 5: (caption) The Boss Cockie Deputation (To The Land Minister): – ‘Now you mustn’t pass this Land Bill.’. | |
| Tocsin (Melbourne) 11 Nov. 6/3: ‘Boss cockies’, or prosperous farmers, with unencumbered freeholds, grab the holdings of the small fry, and deprive them of a living [AND]. | |
| Materials for a Dict. of Aus. Sl. [unpub. ms.] 24: [...] a boss cockie is almost equivalent with gentleman farmer. A boss cockie is often a large capitalist and employer of labour and approaches at times very close to the dignity of squatter. | |
| Timely Tips For New Australians 16: boss-cockie. — A small farmer who works himself but also employs labour. | |
| Snowball 12: The chief stock-and-station agent, and the head officials of the local Road Board were often linked up with some of the boss-cockies from round about to form a clique. |
2. (Aus.) a person in authority.
| Bulletin (Sydney) 29 Aug. 4/1: But the horde of ignorant, bumptious, back-block publicans and boss-cockies who [...] are from year to year foisted on to the Bench before an election by the Ministry of the day, should be wiped out in one act with a scratch of the pen. | |
| Truth (Sydney) 19 Oct. 4/8: He might be the grand high boss cocky in Australia’s political world, but he was no friend of Queensland’s [AND]. | |
| Sun. Times (Perth) 28 Aug. 4/7: The scanty scalp-locks of a brand new Bishop [...] turned chalk-white on the morning following his elevation to the boss-cocky-ship of the diocese. | |
| Bulletin (Sydney) 6 Oct. 18/4: On behalf of the S. Australian Government, he has just engaged Professor Lowrie to boss the Agricultural Department at a salary of £1250. Lowrie, who is the usual Scotchman, was boss cocky in S. Australia once before. | |
| Kia Ora Coo-ee Nov. 18/1: I’ll easy be able to hold down a job as boss cocky of a restaurant. | |
| Aus. Lang. 55: Boss cocky, a leader or organizer. | |
| I saw Strange Land 50: Abel is a sort of boss cocky, leader of the native evangelists, bell-ringer in chief, organizer and community foreman. | |
| (con. WWII) And Then We Heard The Thunder (1964) 420: And how was the chief boss-cocky? | |
| ad. for Qantas Airlines (Aus.) [caption] Our boss cocky dreamed up this Qantas noggin and it’s a bobby-dazzler. | |
| Breaking Out 11: When it comes to discipline, I’m the boss-cocky of this jail. | |
| (con. 1959) Up the Cross 166: Gilbert [a racing pigeon] [...] was boss cocky to a loft of about seventy well-bred fliers. | |
| at www.ipaustralia.gov.au 16 Jan. 🌐 He did agree that the words BOSS COCKY comprised an Australian colloquialism but this was somewhat negated because that phrase still meant just that – the ‘boss’, or the person in charge. | |
| posting at www.policeworld.net 21 Sept. 🌐 There are far too many sheilas on this site, who think they are the boss cocky. | |
| Bug (Aus.) July 🌐 But, Bash, you gotta understand you don’t get to be boss cocky of any tinpot Aussie outpost dunny unless you are as cunning as a shithouse rat. |
1. (US) an important person or one who poses as such.
| Times Dispatch (Richmond, VA) 30 Apr. 10/3: Who besides a blooming idiot would n’t be boss dog if he could? | |
| Bully Hayes 170: This meant he was boss-dog. |
2. (US prison) a prison rapist; one who exploits weaker prisoners, esp. sexually.
| (con. 1960s) Whoreson 193: My nickname while I was in prison shows...what kind of man I was becoming: Boss Dog. |
(US black) an important person, usu. in ironic use.
| (con. 1960s) Whoreson 223: ‘You got nineteen, Bossgame,’ I said harshly. |
1. a female superior.
| [ | | Seattle Republican (WA) 3 Nov. 2/2: Mrs William Partridge [...] has gained the soubriquet of ‘Lady Boss’ from the men who work under her directions]. |
| Eve. Star (Washington, DC) 20 Oct. 35/1: M‘issy Olivah know plenty,’ retorted Bung, resenting the slight on his boss-lady’s judgement. | |
| Eve. Star (Washington, DC) 13 Apr. 72/4: The boss woman has a face in which friendliness blendsa with business alertness. | |
| Wkly Jrnl-Miner (Prescott, AZ) 19 Oct. 5/5: The boss lady there has balked over this proposition. | |
| Banjo 55: Bam! Biff! And the big boss-lady was undertaker’s business before you could squint. | |
| Weed (1998) 160: My bosslady, all the time she’s [...] tryin to give me airs. | |
| Business Week 1 Apr. [headline] Commentary: Goodbye, Boss Lady. Hello, Soccer Mom — High-profile bailouts from corporate life bring women’s conflicts into sharp focus. |
2. (US, also boss-woman) a wife who dominates her husband.
| Eve. Star (Wshington, DC) 5 June 31/3: Men who wink and calmly think / They boss their Kates and Sals / [...] Ere Homer smote or Plato wrote / Boss Woman ruled the roost. | |
| Parole Chief 117: He married a winsome slip of a girl [...] and she became boss lady in the house. | |
| in DARE I 345/2: (Joking expressions [...] about a wife who gives orders) [...] Boss-woman [...] (Joking names that a man may use to refer to his wife) [...] Boss-lady. |
1. (US) the overseer, foreman, employer, chief prison guard, anyone in authority; also as a term of address.
| ‘Roll on, Johnnie!’ in Rainbow in Morning (1965) 168: I asked that boss-man for to gimme my time. | |
| Mother of the Hoboes 58: The ‘boss man’ of every colored family [...] drove to town for a settlement with his creditors. | |
| Home to Harlem 46: Let the boss-men stick them jobs up. | |
| Mulatto in Three Negro Plays (1969) Act I: He’s acting like a fool – just like he was boss man round here. | |
| Really the Blues 131: ‘Sorry,’ the bossman said, not even bothering to get up. | |
| Scrambled Yeggs 145: He’s what’s left of the kill syndicate, the hit-and-run artists. He’s the boss-man. | |
| Slave in Three Negro Plays (1969) Act I: Uh, yeah. Another title, boss man. | |
| Jones Men 52: What is it, Boss Man? | |
| (con. 1960s) Black Gangster (1991) 281: ‘Now just shut up,’ the bossman roared. | |
| Rivethead (1992) 47: A guilty wave of laughter spread through the workers. None of the bossmen appeared at all amused. | |
| A Rube’s Story 🌐 Shit man, I’m the boss-man a’ motherfuckers. | |
| Carnival 183: Laurence told one of the doormen [...] ‘Go ask your boss-man!’. |
2. a farmer.
| Exeter & Plymouth Gaz. 15 Oct. 6/4: They buy both the horses [...] for which the ‘bossman,’ a farmer, originally asked £25. |
3. a pimp.
| in Sweet Daddy 58: They know I’m a boss-man and they figure here’s a chance to bust a daddy-o. |
4. (US gay) the ‘masculine’ member of a homosexual couple.
| Queens’ Vernacular 110: partner in a stable gay relationship who assumes the more dominant, masculine role [...] bossman. |
see royal n.2
In phrases
(Aus. prison) a middle-level prison officer.
| Aus. Prison Sl. Gloss. 🌐 Little boss. A middle level prison officer. |
(US prison) the chief officer on a prison farm.
| ‘El Presidente de Méjico’ in Texas Stories (1995) 82: Crying Tom, whip boss of the Huntsville pea farm, was tougher on horse thieves than anyone. | |
| Walk on the Wild Side 17: He learnt that the whip boss at Hunstville was named Crying Tom. |