Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a German, esp. a German soldier; thus Bocheland, Boschland, Germany.

1914		V. Chapman letter 26 Dec. in Letters from France (1917) 72: Xmas in the trenches was interesting but not too exciting. Beginning the eve before, ‘conversations’ in the form of calls. ‘Boches,’ ‘ça va’ etc. In response: ‘Bon camarade,’ ‘cigarettes,’ ‘nous boirons champagne à Paris,’ etc. Christmas morning a Russian up the line who spoke good German, wished them the greetings of the season, to which the Boches responded that [etc].
1915		J. McConnell letter 27 Sept. in Weeks (ed.) Greater Love Hath No Man (1939) 71: Last night we heard that 42,000 Bosches had been put hors de combat; that they were in full retreat and that our cavalry was right on their heels.
1916		J. Buchan Greenmantle (1930) 135: We’ve got the measure of the old Boche now.
1916		Falkirk Herald 20 Dec. 2/1: Lately there were [...] throuighout Bocheland great popular rejoicings over the capture of Bucharest.
1916		Sun (NY) 25 June 38/2: There is not one of us here [...] who does not want to see Bocheland devastated from one end to the other.
1918		E. Wilson ‘Lieutenant Franklin’ A Prelude (1967) 243: That’s one compensation for living in Boche-land.
1918		E. Genet War Letters letter 26 May n.p.: We’ve had our share of the shells of the ‘Bush’ too. The other day [...] swish-h-h, swish-h-h! two German 77’s came over our heads and struck a few hundred metres beyond.
1918		Dagger [London] Dec. I 12/1: Sublimely unconscious of the attentions of Brother Boche.
1919		Sun. Times (Perth) 9 Mar. 7/3: He has grown to regard anything coming out of Boschland as questionable to say the very least, and extends his veto even to their lingo.
1924		(con. WWI) A.G. Pretty Gloss. of Sl. [...] in the A.I.F. 1921–1924 (rev. t/s) n.p.: bosche. A German, especially soldier.
1928		C. McKay Home to Harlem 22: We was always on the defensive, as if the boches, as the froggies called them, was right down on us.
1938		X. Herbert Capricornia (1939) 117: When he saw old Fliegeltaub he hooted, ‘Bluidy awl’ Boche, wait’ll we get B’lin and see’t we do to bluidy awl Koyser’.
1940		Lancs. Eve. Post 22 Oct. 4/2: If Hitler has his way, all Euope will be reduced to one uniform Bocheland, to be exploited, pillaged and bullied by Nazi gangsters.
1944		C. Fluck ‘Bubbles’ of the Old Kent Road 42: In 1940 Hitler held a Brock’s [firework manufacturer] Benefit over London. [...] We took it and told the Bosh to go to Hell, where he belongs.
1944		D. Runyon Runyon à la Carte 200: Kindly do not refer to our people as krauts [...] Heinies, Boches.
1960		(con. WWII) G. Sire Deathmakers 99: ‘That’s right, for the sport, Captain,’ she said [...] ‘To kill Boches.’.
1989		H. Rawson Dict. of Invective (1991) 13: The French have long been reviled as frogs, the Germans as the Boche (cabbageheads) and as krauts (from sauerkraut).
2024		J. Meades Empty Wigs (t/s) 603: [B]right young xenophobes alert to her accent, cut her or mocked her or deprecated her: Hun, Bosch, Kraut, Gerry.

2. attrib. use of sense 1.

1915		K.Y. Rockwell letter 15 May in War Letters (2008) 45: We took the Boche colonel prisoner, this was mentioned in the papers.
1918		R.H. Knyvett ‘Over There’ with the Australians 5: As the boche fire also stopped soon afterward, we were able to scurry back.