Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Boy
Boy
,Noun.
[Cf. D.
boef
, Fries. boi
, boy
; akin to G. bube
, Icel. bofi
rouge.] 1.
A male child, from birth to the age of puberty; a lad; hence, a son.
My only
boy
fell by the side of great Dundee. Sir W. Scott.
☞ Boy is often used as a term of comradeship, as in college, or in the army or navy. In the plural used colloquially of members of an associaton, fraternity, or party.
Boy bishop
, a boy (usually a chorister) elected bishop, in old Christian sports, and invested with robes and other insignia. He practiced a kind of mimicry of the ceremonies in which the bishop usually officiated.
– The Old Boy
, the Devil.
[Slang]
– Yellow boys
, guineas.
[Slang, Eng.]
– Boy’s love
, a popular English name of Southernwood (
– Artemisia abrotonum
); – called also lad's love
. Boy's play
, childish amusements; anything trifling.
Boy
,Verb.
T.
To act as a boy; – in allusion to the former practice of boys acting women's parts on the stage.
I shall see
Some squeaking Cleopatra
Some squeaking Cleopatra
boy
my greatness. Shakespeare
Webster 1828 Edition
Boy
BOY
,Noun.
A male child, from birth to the age of puberty; but in general, applied to males under ten or twelve years of age; a lad. Sometimes it is used in contempt for a young man, indicating immaturity, want of vigor or judgment.
BOY
,Verb.
T.
Rather, to act as a boy; to imitate a boy in action. The passage in Shakespeare,in which this word is found,is supposed to allude to the practice of boys acting women's parts on the stage.
I shall see some squeaking Cleopatra boy my greatness.