Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (also boyz) a (male) social circle; a group companions or one’s ‘gang’.

1821		Egan Life in London (1869) 236: Go not yet, for now’s the time, / The ‘boys’ are all bang-up and prime.
1841		‘The Smuggler’s fate’ in Lloyd’s Companion 26 Sept. 1/1: ‘I have promised to go with the boys once more, and my word cannot be recalled’.
1842		Whip & Satirist of NY & Brooklyn (NY) 19 Nov. n.p.: the whip wants to knowWhat the ‘boys’ find to do now that they have all reformed.
1859		Wkly Varieties (Boston, MA) 29 Oct. 3/1: While he had money he proved a ‘big card’ among the ‘boys’ about town.
1865		‘Mr Carlisle’ Stray Leaves 12: After dinner, one of the ‘boys,’ who had taken wine enough to make him sleepy [...] lay down to take a nap.
1875		M. Thompson Hoosier Mosaics 221: ‘By the way, who was that singing just now over in the saloon there?’ ‘Don’t know, didn’t hear ’em. Some of the boys, I s’pose.’.
1882		‘Paris Inside Out’ in Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 23 Dec. 6/1: Joe Potts is one of the boys—one ol the boyiest of the boys.
1890		Bird o’ Freedom 1 Jan. 2/3: She alludes to the male members of the company as ‘the boys’.
1892		H. Lawson ‘Jones’s Alley’ in Roderick (1972) 42: He had a great aversion to running in ‘the boys’.
1903		T.W.H. Crosland ‘South Africa’ in Five Notions 29: Kicked up such a devil’s noise, / That we had to send the boys – / Soldiers from the City.
1905		Sun. Times (Perth) 6 Aug. 4/8: He was no puking Holy Joe / [...] / He was, in fact, one of the boys / Who loved life.
1908		B. Fisher A. Mutt in Blackbeard Compilation (1977) 21: Many of the boys are getting the rough stuff at home today on account of New Year’s pledges.
1912		Sport (Adelaide) 17 Aug. 14/3: They Say [...] The folk of Torrensville are very agitated at present, seeing the name ‘Burglar Bob’ in ‘Sport.’ No need for alarm. Only mob’s pet name for ‘one of the boys’.
1914		Joyce ‘Counterparts’ Dubliners (1956) 88: He knew where he would meet the boys: Leonard and O’Halloran and Nosey Flynn.
1920		‘Sapper’ Bulldog Drummond 69: Wouldn’t it be better, Hugh, to whip up two or three of the boys and have a real scrap.
1923		N. Anderson Hobo 69: He is a good beggar and manages to get from fifty cents to a dollar a day from the ‘boys’ on the ‘stem’.
1930		L. Lower Here’s Luck 37: ‘What’s that?’ I gasped. ‘It’s the Boys!’ cried Stanley, and rushed to let them in.
1931		P.J. Wolfson Bodies are Dust (2019) [ebook] [T]here was a raid on a house and the boys [i.e. the police] took the girls up into the rest-room before locking them in.
1936		Wodehouse Young Men in Spats 35: Such goings-on. I’m shocked. That’s what I am. Shocked. And the boys are shocked, too.
1939		V. Davis Gentlemen of the Broad Arrows 37: I reckon two hundred of the boys are game to take a chance.
1940		D. Maurer Big Con 264: The boys will be here any minute.
1950		N. Cassady letter in Charters (1993) 199: She was [...] making quite a stir among the boys.
1961		T. Taylor Baron’s Court All Change (2011) 11: An evening [...] [o]f ‘the boys’ talking about football and work.
1964		H. Selby Jr Last Exit to Brooklyn 256: If I had a couple a bucks I could see somea the boys tanight and maybe we’d pick somethin up.
1975		E. Torres Carlito’s Way 7: I was kicking him on the ground when his boys arrived on bikes.
1983		J. Byrell (con. 1959) Up the Cross 114: The next few arvos in the bar [...] weren’t much chop mainly because of the general down mood of the boys.
1987		T. Wolfe Bonfire of the Vanities 336: Well, I mean I’d heard about Angie and The Boys, but I didn’t believe it.
1998		Eble Campus Sl. Nov. 1: boyz – group of close male friends.
2000		T. Udo Vatican Bloodbath 25: It’s yer mammy, Billy, she’s giein line ups for aw’ the Bhoys at ten pee a shot.
2001		D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 28/2: boys, the n. pl. lone's fellow inmates in prison, or in one's particular crew.
2006		B. Matthews Intractable [ebook] [W]e were all a bunch of larrikins and he was one of the boys.

2. (orig. US) a criminal or violent gang, esp. the hangers-on of a corrupt politician.

1827		P. Cunningham New South Wales II 202: The buoyant spirits of ‘the boys’ were knocked under for a time by these mishaps.
1830		Lytton Paul Clifford I 220: Whatever the noise as is made by the boys / At the bar as they lush away, / The devil a noise my peace alloys / As long as the rascals pay!
1851		‘Greenhorn’ [G. Thompson] Bristol Bill 15/1: ‘I must introduce you to our boys tonight — I s’pose you are ready to be initated’.
1873		W.H. Thomes Bushrangers 135: [of bushrangers] ‘You can’t go there now [...] It’s thirty miles from here, and the boys is all along the road [...] and it’s rough treatment they’d give you.’.
1874		Tunkhannock Republican (PA) 6 May 3/4: ‘Little Africa’ was shaken to its very centre [...] on the occasion of a grand dance at the house of Chauncey Wright. The ‘boys’ did not behave very well.
1882		Cincinnati Enquirer 13 June 4/2: There are intimations by cable that Arabi Pasha has been practicing what would be called among the ‘boys’ in America ‘monkey business’; that he has been pretending to be thrashed when he wasn’t [...].
1892		H. Nisbet Bushranger’s Sweetheart 238: ‘None ob de boys to know?’.
1896		Mirror of Life 30 May 15/1: [T]he ‘boys’ had a high old time at Gatwick. The three-card trick and all the old, old games.
1908		‘Old Sleuth’ Dock Rats of N.Y. (2006) 17: How was it the boys chanced to ‘drop’ to him?
1917		‘Banjo’ Paterson ‘The Downfall of Mulligan’s’ in Three Elephant Power 61: The boys listened with a bored air and reckoned that [...] the priest would have learnt that they were well able to look after themselves.
1924		S. Scott Human Side of Crook and Convict Life 16: The Australian ‘boys’ had to get rid of him because he talked too much when drunk.
1930		‘Leslie Charteris’ Enter the Saint 11: He was leader of a particularly tough race-course gang, generally known as ‘The Snake’s Boys’.
1931		P.J. Wolfson Bodies are Dust (2019) [ebook] ‘Runs a speakeasy on Sidelle Street near Blake. One of the boys’.
1943		Ted Yates 24 Sept. [synd. col.] ‘The boy from New York’ mingled with the boys and occasionally called his boss ’Albert’ [i.e. Al(phonse) Capone].
1949		H. Wilson ‘I Was King of the Safecrackers’ in Hamilton Men of the Und. 136: I explained it to the boys.
1952		H. McCoy Corruption City 18: Nemo was here by three with a couple of the boys.
1963		M. Spillane Return of the Hood 83: I heard noises like that from the boys. Moe tried to tell me and so did Carl Hoover.
1976		Cab Calloway Of Minnie the Moocher and Me 98: Texas went on a road tour and the ‘boys’ never allowed her to return.
1989		T. Blacker Fixx 84: The vulgar lout who had criticised his colour co-ordination needed a new face after the boys had finished with him.
2001		D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 28/2: boys, the 2 one’s fellow gang-members or associates.

3. (US) the police.

1880		Bulletin (Sydney) 29 May 5/2: Mr. A. D. Douglas [...] is an inspector of native police[...] He [is] adored by ‘ the boys’ — as the native troopers, who are mostly Wide Bay blacks, are known.
1901		J. Flynt World of Graft 62: The spotter must have sized me up to be ‘one of the boys’. [...] It is my misfortune to be sometimes taken by the Upper World for a detective.
1924		D. Hammett ‘The Tenth Clew’ in Continental Op (1975) 13: I’ll have a couple of the boys out calling on all the typewriter shops [...] to see if they can get a line on this one.
1930		R. Whitfield Green Ice (1988) 17: That was the trouble – the boys would get five – when they needed four.
1942		R. Chandler High Window 155: If I went down to headquarters and told the boys everything you have told me, they would laugh in my face. And I would be laughing with them.
1952		W.R. Burnett Little Men, Big World 94: Due to a newspaper story in the Examiner the boys have got Rudy down at headquarters sweating him over Leon’s disappearance.
1969		C. Himes Blind Man with a Pistol (1971) 112: Did the boys downtown make him?
1984		‘Derek Raymond’ He Died with His Eyes Open 32: One word from me to the boys over at Lewisham and bang goes your license.
1990		S. Morgan Homeboy 98: It takes a lot of pictures to pay off attorneys and grease the boys downtown.

4. criminals in general, esp. the thieves and swindlers who frequented race-courses or dog-tracks.

1903		A. Binstead Pitcher in Paradise 172: It enjoys a doubtful sort of immortality as one of the very hottest stamping grounds of ‘the boys’ [...] many of whom ‘worked’ the meeting.
1936		J. Curtis Gilt Kid 277: They were just the sort of people who got the boys a bad name and started people chucking off hot air about the ‘lower criminal classes’.
1941		V. Davis Phenomena in Crime 14: It caused him no concern to be seen in an hostelry favoured by the ‘boys’.
1975		E. Torres Carlito’s Way 19: Up there [i.e. prison] I meet a lot of the boys.

5. the employees or hangers-on of a particular world, e.g. advertising or boxing.

1886		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 6 Feb. 14/1: The boys [i.e. travelling salesmen] are going to make a hot fight [...] against the unjust tax racket played on them.
1904		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 3 Feb. 3/4: Now ‘Star’s’ overwhelming ‘side’ had angered some of the ‘boys,’ those smart Alecs who infest sporting resorts.
1920		Ade Hand-made Fables 83: There are favoured spots within the Republic at which being known by the Boys behind the Desk is the very Essence of Fame.
1930		J. Lait Put on the Spot 43: The boys had called their city editors.
1947		B. Schulberg Harder They Fall (1971) 85: If you want to see how the boys handle this one, stick around until everybody has left the joint.
1961		J. Scarne Complete Guide to Gambling 674: The Boys – inveterate gamblers.
1995		C. Hiaasen Stormy Weather 213: Greedy cocksucking hypocrites, and you may quote me to the boys in New York.
2012		H. Acosta ‘Doing the Job’ in ThugLit Dec. [ebook] The locker room had a nunch of the boys [i.e. wrestlers] changing into their gear.

6. (Irish) Republican revolutionaries, esp. when fleeing capture.

1925		L. O’Flaherty Informer (1958) 153: Not that I didn’t do me bit to help the boys, God bless 'em, but ’tisn’t the boys that done the fightin’ that get the jobs .
1975		J. Ryan Remembering How We Stood 136: The old days when the Black and Tan war was at its fiercest, some of the ‘boys’ on the run were given refuge in the house of a Mrs Clougherty .
1987		L. Redmond Emerald Square n.p.: [...] ‘’an’ the Boys must think we live on fresh air.’ The ‘boys’ referred to were the Shinners.
2020		A. Parks Bobby March Will Live Forever 250: ‘[P]eople on the run, either from the police or the Boys’.

7. as the –– boys, individuals conforming to a specific job description, e.g. the software boys, the public relations boys.

1933		R. Chandler ‘Blackmailers Don’t Shoot’ in Red Wind (1946) 107: You know how the law boys love my sort.
1941		V. Davis Phenomena in Crime 62: The press ‘boys’ came along at the double.
1949		R. Chandler Little Sister 180: They’ll [...] line them up for the camera boys after they pull the raid.
1953		R. Chandler Long Good-Bye 227: As Ohls and I went in Sheriff Petersen was standing behind his desk and the camera boys were filing out by another door.
1958		R. Chandler Playback 107: If you had taken an overdose, the homicide boys would be told.
1960		C. Cooper Jr Syndicate (1998) 58: I had to be on my tippy-toes, now that the state boys were after me.
1962		R. Cook Crust on its Uppers 25: Pressure from [...] the income tax boys.
1975		E. Torres Carlito’s Way 84: You think they can’t put the junk boys out of business?
1997		C. Newland Scholar 3: Your pub’ll get a visit from the Vice boys.
2000		G. Pelecanos Shame the Devil 132: Hey, the federal boys were surveiling it for months.

8. (UK/W.I.) the immigrant West Indian community.

1956		S. Selvon Lonely Londoners 8: This was a time, when any corner you turn, is ten to one you bound to bounce up a spade. In fact, the boys all over London.
1959		C. MacInnes Absolute Beginners 15: Suzette [...] enjoys the life, and naturally is very popular among the boys.

9. the US Mafia.

1952		Lait & Mortimer USA Confidential 19: The boys suddenly fell in love with petroleum and are funneling great sums into Texas.
1972		G.V. Higgins Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973) 74: It’s a goddamned front for the boys. They all get reportable income from Arliss and none of them work there.

10. (US campus) the male homosexual community.

1961		‘Lou Rand’ Gay Detective (2003) 39: A raid on an after-hours drinking joint that caters almost exclusively to the boys.
1967–8		Baker et al. CUSS 87: Boys, one of the An effeminate male.
1972		B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular 36: the boys a homosexual group; the subculture of the male homosexual.
2023		(con. 1962) J. Ellroy Enchanters 283: The boys [at a gay bar] screen toga flicks on a wall-pinned bedsheet.

11. (US) the testicles.

2013		T. Pluck ‘Story of O Street’ in Life During Wartime (2018) 56: The suit was tight in the crotch, and Frank adjusted the boys.
2018		J.-P. Jordan Joys of War 18: I made the schoolboy error of going commando because of the heat; thought it would keep the boys cool under pressure .