Green’s Dictionary of Slang

boy n.2

1. a hump on a person’s back; thus him and his boy, a hunchback [the hunchback is seen as carrying a small child].

[UK]Sl. Dict. 95: Boy, a hump on a man’s back. In low circles it is usual to speak of a humpbacked man as two persons – ‘him and his boy’.

2. champagne [allegedly f. Edward VII’s habit of merely saying ‘Boy!’ to an attendant page who automatically brought him a glass of that wine; note Binstead, A Pink ’Un and a Pelican (1898) (the context is 1879): ‘The young bucks of the present day, by the way, generally allude to a bottle of champagne erroneously as “the Boy,” in evident ignorance of the origin of the term, which is as follows: At a shooting party of His Royal Highness’s, the guns were followed at a distance by a lad who wheeled a barrow-load of champagne, packed in ice. The weather was intensely close and muggy, and whenever anybody felt inclined for a drink he called out “Boy!” to the youth in attendance; the frequency with which this happened leading to the adoption of the term. It does not follow, however, that everybody who uses the word nowadays was out shooting that day with the Prince.’].

[UK] ‘The fine young London Gentleman’ in Punch LXXXII 69/2: He’ll nothing drink but B. and S., and big magnums of the boy.
[US]Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 2 Feb. 2/4: The Prince of Wales refers to champagne as ‘the boy’. He would probably speak of Jersey Lightning as ‘the old man eloquent’.
[UK]Sporting Times 1 Mar. 1/4: The principal witness in the case of the British ‘boy’ which was lately before the courts was Mr. Corke. [...] The defender of home-made champagne was Mr. Goldberg.
[Aus]Dead Bird (Sydney) 31 May 2/3: To drink herself silly / With creme de chantilly / And a magnum or two of ‘The Boy!’.
[UK]D. Cotsford Society Snapshots 74: What’s the matter, Daddles? — feel queer? . . . Nothing wrong with the ‘boy,’ is it?
[US]E.W. Townsend Sure 132: ‘I likes a spill as well — as well as I like a glass of de boy’.
[UK]Illus. Police News 30 Dec. 6/4: To each dear little joy, you stand magnums of ‘Boy,’ / Which is slang, you must know, for champagne.
[UK]Sporting Times 4 Feb. 1/1: One of the infernal nuisances of getting old is giving up champagne. But it is an old story—the old man is beaten by the boy.
[UK]E. Pugh Harry The Cockney 274: We opened the ball, as a rule, with a pint of the ‘boy’.

3. the penis.

[UK]Sheaves from an Old Escritoire 70: [She] gave me a shy little kiss [...] Oh! delightful! it made the boy still more proud; in fact he began to throb with delight [...] Still holding my boy she pulled the foreskin backwards and forwards a few times.
[US]C.H. Ford Water from a Bucket 114: Reading Jung [...] ‘The vulgar designation of penis as ‘boy’ was remarked upon by Grimm and others.’ Which makes me want to look at my ‘boy’ at least [Simes:DLSS].

4. in homosexual senses.

(a) (gay) a male homosexual, esp. if flamboyant or a prostitute.

R. Firbank Prancing Nigger 108: City life, what had it done for any of them, after all? Edna a harlot (since she had left them there was no other word), and Charlie fast going to pieces, having joined the Promenade of a notorious Bar with its bright galaxy of boys [Simes:DLSS].
[UK]J. Curtis Gilt Kid 109: One of the boys [...] swayed gracefully across the room to the Gilt Kid. .. The Gilt Kid was not particularly anxious to make friends with all the irons in London.
[US] ‘Hotel Sl.’ in AS XIV:3 Oct. 239/2: boy [...] male homosexual.
[US]G. Legman ‘Lang. of Homosexuality’ Appendix VII in Henry Sex Variants.
[Aus]J. Rose At the Cross 24: [T]he woman said ‘You on the game?’ I stood stupidly looking at her then she said softly ‘Are you one of the boys?’ [Simes:DLSS].
[US] (ref. to 1930s) Guild Dict. Homosexual Terms 5: boy (n.): A male homosexual or bellhop, especially if a prostitute or available to male patrons of the hotel. (Hotel slang, ca. Los Angeles, 1939.).
[US]J. Rechy Rushes (1981) 56: Gatherings brightened or rendered even more desolating by an occasional, quite often discreetly bought, ‘boy’.
S.L. Elliott Fairyland 133: ‘Feel free and easy with me, love, I much prefer renting to the boys, they’re tidier’ [Simes:DLSS].

(b) (US prison) a gay prison inmate, esp. when the passive partner in a relationship with an otherwise heterosexual convict.

[US]A. Berkman Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist (1926) 307: The chief cook drops in to visit ‘his’ boy.
[US]H. Simon ‘Prison Dict.’ in AS VIII:3 (1933) 24/2: BOY. Catamite.
[US]C. Panzram in Gaddis & Long Panzram 58: The cops took my gun belt but left me my boy. We were both sent to the county road gang at Rusk, Texas. [...] The boss-man’s name was Mr Tate. He took my boy to sleep in his tent.
V.F. Nelson Prison Days & Nights 151: [W]hen a man is seen giving a fellow convict some candy or a package of cigarettes, it is considered humor of the highest order to ask, ‘Is he your “boy”?’ or ‘You must be sleeping with him!’.
[US]Patterson & Conrad Scottsboro Boy 96: John Peasley kept carrying on with my boy. He tried to take him away from me. Bought him whisky, tried to talk him out of me [Simes:DLSS].
[US]T. Runyon In For Life 101: Why don’t you get yourself a boy and settle down?
[US] C.B. Hopper Sex in Prison 94: If a young prisoner is forced into a homosexual relationship, he may known as a ‘gal-boy’, ‘kid’, ‘punk kid’, or simply ‘boy’ .
[US]in A. Scacco Male Rape 16: ‘I know situations where staff got involved in overt homosexual relationships with “boys” and even owned them’ [Simes:DLSS].
[NZ]H. Beaton Outside In I ii: Not me boy. No way.
[UK]K. Smith Inside Time 147: ‘That old queen..is happy enough in here with all the boy bum he can use’ [Simes:DLSS].
[US]N. McCall Makes Me Wanna Holler (1995) 174: They even competed for control of gay men — whom they called ‘boys’.

(c) (US gay) in sado-masochistic sex, the passive or subservient partner.

[US]R. Scott Rebecca’s Dict. of Queer Sl. 🌐 boy — 1) a butch or male submissive or bottom, frequently one who role-plays as young 2) a boyish butch lesbian.

5. in drug uses.

(a) heroin [the image of heroin as a ‘masculine’ drug, i.e. one that ‘knocks you down’, rather than cocaine or girl n.2 (1), the injecting of which gives a sexual thrill (although heroin, too, has that effect on some users)].

[US]H. Braddy ‘Narcotic Argot Along the Mexican Border’ in AS XXX:2 86: BOY, n. Heroin, as opposed to girl, cocaine, and Dona Juanita, marijuana.
[US]C. Cooper Jr Scene (1996) 60: Boy is the junkie’s name for heroin; they call cocaine girl because it gives ’em a sexual jab when they take a shot.
[US]E. Droge Patrolman 167: Whether you call it horse [...] boy, Harry, or Scot, it’s still heroin.
[US]E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 172: Several terms were used to characterize heroin – H, skag, boy, horse, stuff.
[US]S. Morgan Homeboy 18: It’s no coincidence that cocaine and heroin are called boy and girl on the street.
[US]E. Little Another Day in Paradise 238: Got cash, boy and girl. It’s yours.
[US]R. Cea No Lights, No Sirens 104: They would be used to mule the boy from the bagging plants and drop the heroin to prearranged spots where Cho’s steerers could deliver it to him on his spot when he needed to be re-upped.
[US](con. 2011) in J. Fenton We Own This City 100: Jaime texted a man named Kenneth Diggins [...] ‘Got any boy?’ she wrote, using slang for heroin. ‘Let me get some boy off you.’.

(b) cocaine [may be a misreading].

[US] cited in Spears Sl. and Jargon of Drugs and Drink (1986).
[US]ONDCP Street Terms 4: Boy — Cocaine.

6. (UK juv.) the police [? abbr. blue boy n.2 (1)].

Central Cee ‘LA Leakers Freestyle’ 🎵 You say ‘The feds just done a sweep’ We say, ‘The boy dem run in my gaff’.

In compounds

boy-girl (n.)

see separate entry.

In phrases

do you need a boy?

(drugs) a surreptitious request for heroin.

[US]Lannoy & Masterson ‘Teen-age Hophead Jargon’ AS XXVII:1 25: DO YOU NEED A BOY? phr. Have you any drugs for sale?
put a boy in your office (v.) (also put a boy on)

(Aus.) to have male homosexual sex.

[Aus]W.B. Lawrence letter in S.J. Baker papers MLMSS 165: Box 4, Bundle 1, File 3: Put a boy in your office = have homosexual relations.
[Aus]in Simes DAUS 23/2: boy, put a — on To enjoy success in amatory affairs. ‘Getting any?’ ‘I’ve had to put a boy on’.

SE in slang uses

In compounds

boy-ass (n.) [ass n. (2); cites, e.g. 1959, may (also) refer to the actual anus]

a boy who exists simply as a sex object for his homosexual partners.

[US]G. Legman ‘Lang. of Homosexuality’ Appendix VII in Henry Sex Variants.
[US]W. Burroughs Naked Lunch (1968) 101: ‘I was young once and heard the siren call of easy money and women and tight boy-ass...’.
[US]Guild Dict. Homosexual Terms 5: boy-ass (n.): Generic for boy or young man who is the sexual object of a pedicator (pederast).
[US]‘D. Warman’ Some of My Best Friends 61: Don’t get hung up on a piece of boy-ass. So you sucked him off and you loved it. So what? [Simes:DLSS].
[US]E. Torres Q&A 150: Mauricio says the men will not stay on the boat with Roger, that he wants to bring his boy-ass aboard.
[US]D. McDonald Filth 147: The manager sure knew how to treat boy ass. After he finished with me, two other blacks took over, one at each end [Simes:DLSS].
boy bar (n.)

(US) a bar primarily used by male homosexuals.

T. Cullen Man Who Was Norris (2014) 26: [B]oth cruised the gay boy-bars with which [Berlin] abounded.
[US]J. Stahl Plainclothes Naked (2002) 270: The he ups and brains some butt-rustler in a goddam boy bar.
boychick (n.) (also boychik, boytchick) [Yid. dimin. sfx -tschik]

a general term of affection between males; a man who acts like a child.

[US]C. Odets Awake and Sing! II i: Don’t cry, boychick.
[US](con. 1910s) ‘Harry Grey’ Hoods (1953) 16: Pleased to meet up with you boytchicks.
[UK]R.L. Finn Time Remembered (1985) 114: Don’t get upset with me, boychick.
[US]K. Brasselle Cannibals 103: Okey-dokey, boychik.
[US]New Yorker 7 Mar. 94: Reggie shouldn’t have had to be the bouncing boychick even in his dealings with his wife.
[US](con. early 1950s) J. Ellroy L.A. Confidential 221: Go home, boychiks.
[US](con. 1964–8) J. Ellroy Cold Six Thousand 22: Ruby yukked. Boychik — you slay me.
[US]J. Ellroy Widespread Panic 184: Bob signed off, per usual, L’chaim, boychik.
boy-cunt (n.)

(US gay) a young male homosexual considered as a sex object; the anus or buttocks of such a person.

[US]‘D. Baxter’ Streetwise and Horny 53: He pulled the muscular cheeks apart, feeling his way inward and resting his finger-tips on the quivering boy-cunt [Simes:DLSS].
[US]W. Leyland Flesh 104: ‘I don’t like being called a faggot.’ ‘Well, that’s what you are—a queer, a pansy, a fruit, a cocksucker, a boy-cunt’ [Simes:DLSS].
[US]Handjobs (CA) July 56: His tight brown boy-cunt winked at me from between the soft pink mounds of his ass cheeks [Simes:DLSS].
[US]J. Medley Revolutionary 170: ‘Good little boy-cunt. Fuck his little ass! Fuck ’im!’ [Simes:DLSS].
boy-farm (n.)

a school; thus boy-farmer, a school-teacher.

W. Morris News from Nowhere (2008) 26: I had best say nothing about the boy-farms which I had been used to call schools .
[UK]Daily Chronicle 16 Sept. 2/6: The professional boy-farmers [...] are naturally trying to supply what is desired .
boyfriend (n.)

1. (US) a term of address between men, rarely affectionate.

[US]R. Chandler Playback 196: Listen boy friend, I’m a pretty big man in this town.

2. a term of address bewteen homosexual men.

[UK]A. Hollinghurst Line of Beauty 75: ‘Well,’ said Nick, finally, ‘where do you want to go?’ ‘I don't know, boyfriend,’ Leo said.

3. (US campus) any attractive man one does not know.

[US]Eble Campus Sl. Apr. 2: boyfriend – good-looking male one has never seen before: ‘Where did that guy come from – he’s a boyfriend.’.
boy-fucker (n.)

(gay) one who indulges in sex with under-age male partners.

[Aus]S. Stewart Broken Arse 31: Weazel reads the note. It’s about Henry Bligh—and it says he’s been a boy-fucker, I think [Simes:DLSS].
J. Pauw Little Ice Cream Boy [ebook] ‘You know what you are?’ George shook his head. Barney said: ‘A fucking boy-fucker!’ ‘Yes,’ Willem agreed, ‘a boy-fucker!’ George shook his head [Simes:DLSS].
boy-girl (n.)

see separate entry.

boy-hump (n.)

(US) ‘A young man or young men considered as objects of sexual gratification; sexual activity with young men’ Simes (2018).

[Aus]C. Gorham Carlotta McBride 33: [A] notice [...] had been scraped with a knife into the dirty plaster: If you like boy-hump I am the one for you [Simes:DLSS].
[US]‘R. Titan’ Hollywood Switch-Hitters 96: [S]he also saw a trained gorilla fuck a piece of boy-hump in the ass [Simes:DLSS].
[US]‘R. Cummings’ Bath Buddy 116: He was a tight-lipped fucker of boy hump [Simes:DLSS].
boy Jones, the (n.) [one Jones, a chimney-sweep, who, c.1840, was cleaning the chimneys at Buckingham Palace, fell into an empty hearth and supposedly overheard Queen Victoria and Prince Albert talking of state secrets]

a teller of secrets.

[UK]C. Hindley Life and Times of James Catnach 329: There was a street-saying much in vogue, of ‘That Boy Jones again’, which was used to cover or account for all petty delinquencies in public or domestic life.
[UK]J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era.
boy juice (n.)

(gay) semen.

[US]‘L. Stout’ Long Time Coming 146: the head strained and expanded, convulsed, and the first glittering jet of boy-juice shot high in the air [Simes:DLSS].
[US]W. Leland When I was 18 66: Howie gagged once but eagerly drank in Carlos’ boy-juice [Simes:DLSS].
[US]Handjobs (CA) May 15: [S]ddenly my mouth was full of boy-juice [Simes:DLSS].
www.advancedmasturbation 31 Oct. 🌐 I’m [...] sucking my boy juice off my fingers [Simes:DLSS].
boy-meat (n.)

(US gay) young homosexual men considered as sex objects; thus their penis.

[US]‘V. Dickerson’ Hairport 120: [...] feeling the boy-meat begin to stiffen [Simes:DLSS].
[US]B. McDonald Cum 153: I began to gobble a nice of piece of boy-meat [Simes:DLSS].
S. Gray Born of Man 188: There must have been a premium on boy-meat after all the cleaning up he’d [i.e. a police detective] been doing [Simes:DLSS].
[US]White Collar Tales (NJ) June 108/1: Lee and Fong knelt ddirectly in front of the two, kissing, licking, and sucking on their boymeat [Simes:DLSS].
boy-pussy (n.)

(US gay) young homosexual men considered as sex objects; thus their anus.

[US]Mantalk (NJ) Nov. 120/1: I inserted one finger up his boy-pussy hole [Simes:DLSS].
[US]Cherry Boys (N.J.) Jan. 22/1: This boy-pussy was hot and ready [Simes:DLSS].
[US]D. Lennon Rudeboy Chain 221: ‘Come on let’s get some pussy. Boy pussy for Connery’ [Simes:DLSS].
[US]‘J. Lear’ Low Road 135: All of them claimed that they reserved ‘boy pussy’ for sea voyages [Simes:DLSS].
boy racer (n.) [note motorcycle jargon boy racer, Model 7R AJS racing motorcycle, manufactured for the mass market in 1948]

a daredevil young car-driver; the term implies disdain for such puerile antics.

[UK]Guardian 14 Feb. 🌐 Ask the average road user what image is conjured up by the phrase ‘boy racer’ and they are likely to describe a strutting adolescent driving an Escort XR3i, with spoilers, yellow foglights and extra bass speakers, who practises handbrake turns in the local car park.
[Scot]T. Black Gutted 212: [of a VW Corrado] ’Tis what ye might call popular with a certain section of the community.’ ‘Fucking boy racers.’.
[Scot]V. McDermid Insidious Intent (2018) 92: [T]he perfect drag strip for boy racers to burn rubber in their pimped-out hatchbacks, the roar of their phat exhausts splitting skulls.
boy scout (n.)

(US teen) a policeman.

[US]Summerfield Sun (KS) 9 Jan. 2/3: Teen Talk Glossary [...] Boy scout — Policeman.
boy’s favourite (n.) [16 is the age of consent in the UK]

(bingo) the number 16.

[UK]Partridge DSUE (8th edn) 127/2: since ca. 1955.
boy’s gaol (n.)

(Aus. prison) a prison which abounds in petty rules.

[Aus]Tupper & Wortley Aus. Prison Sl. Gloss. 🌐 Boy’s gaol [...] used derisively by experienced prisoners in describing prisons where the regime is seen to be petty.
boy toy (n.)

1. (US gay) the penis.

[US] (ref. to 1950s) B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular 48: the penis [...] boy toy (’50s, especially when manipulated by a masturbator).
[US]Size Tales (N.J.) Aug. 45: Toys—cocks, dicks, boy-toys—were what this entire life revolved around. The bigger the toy, the greater his fascination [Simes:DLSS].

2. see toy boy under toy n.1

In phrases

boy in blue (n.)

1. (Irish) stew, the food [rhy. sl.].

[US]A.J. Pollock Und. Speaks 12/1: Boy in blue, a tasteful stew.
[US]Maurer & Baker ‘“Aus.” Rhyming Argot’ in AS XIX:3.

2. see boys in blue n.

boy in the boat (n.)

the clitoris.

[[Scot]Order of the Beggar's Benison and Merryland (1892) 24: An Anster Sentiment — A tiny Boat with a Prow of perfect Ruby; whose shape assumes, in swell and concavity, a single Pearl].
[US]H.N. Cary Sl. of Venery I 22: Boy in the Boat — The clitoris.
[US] ‘The Boy in the Boat’ in Randolph & Legman Ozark Folksongs and Folklore (1992) I 176: Lift up your skirt, gal, an’ gimme a breeze, / What am I gonna do with all this cheese? / The Boy in the Boat! The Boy in the Boat!
[US]George Hanna ‘The Boy in the Boat’ 🎵 Face is still wrinkled, and his breath smells like soap, / Still talkin’ ’bout that boy in the boat.
[Aus]‘No 35’ Argot in Simes DAUS 23: Boy in the boat, the clitoris.
[US]Trimble 5000 Adult Sex Words and Phrases.
[US]B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular.
[US]Maledicta VI:1+2 (Summer/Winter) 131: Boy in the boat (clitoris, button, dot joy buzzer, cockpit).
[US](con. 1910s) F.M. Davis Livin’ the Blues 36: At an early age we talked about a ‘purr-tongue’ or a ‘boy-in-the-boat’.
boy with the boots (n.) [the use of the card as a trump, ‘booting’ other cards]

(Anglo-Irish) the joker in a pack of cards.

[UK]Partridge DSUE (1984) 127/2: late C.19–20.

In exclamations

boy howdy!

(US) a mild excl.

[US]M.E. Smith Adventures of a Boomer Op. 11: Boy Howdy, he had lost all the religion he ever did have.
[US]T. Thursday ‘Art for Artie’ in Argosy All-Story 30 Dec. 🌐 Boy, howdy! The titles alone would have made you seasick!
[US]K. Anderson Night Dogs 331: ‘God damn,’ he said aloud, the tension going. ‘Boy howdy’.
[US]L. Berney Gutshot Straight [ebook] Shake gazed at the car with the admiration he usually reserved for a bowl of homemade gumbo. ‘Boy howdy,’ he said.