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
boy
my greatness.
Shakespeare

Webster 1828 Edition

Boy

BOY

,
Noun.
[L. puer for puger, for we see by puella, that r is not radical. So the Gr. probably is contracted, for the derivative verb, forms.]
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.
To treat as a boy.
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.

Definition 2024

Boy

Boy

See also: boy and bõy

Turkish

Proper noun

Boy

  1. A male given name

boy

boy

See also: Boy and bõy

English

Painting of a boy (c. 1811)
Two Arab boys (c. 1910)

Alternative forms

  • boi (Jamaican English)

Noun

boy ‎(plural boys)

  1. A young male, [from 15th c.] particularly
    1. A male child or teenager, as distinguished from infants or adults.
      • 1876, Frances Eliza Millett Notley, The Kiddle-a-Wink, "A Tale of Love", page 169:
        "He is not quite a baby, Alfred," said Ellen, "though he is only a big stupid boy. We have made him miserable enough. Let us leave him alone."
  2. (diminutive) A male child: a son of any age.
    • Walter Scott
      My only boy fell by the side of great Dundee.
  3. (affectionate, diminutive) A male of any age, particularly one rather younger than the speaker. [from 17th c.]
  4. (obsolete) A male of low station, (especially as pejorative) a worthless male, a wretch; a mean and dishonest male, a knave. [14th-17th c.]
  5. (now rare and usually offensive outside some Commonwealth nations) A male servant, slave, assistant, or employee, [from 14th c.] particularly:
    • c. 1300, King Horn, line 1075:
      þe boye hit scholde abugge; Horn þreu him ouer þe brigge.
    • 1973, Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow, i, 37:
      ‘Why does he go out and pinch all his dogs in person? He's an administrator, isn't he? Wouldn't he hire a boy or something?’
      ‘We call them “staff”,’ Roger replies.
    1. A younger such worker.
      • 1721, Penelope Aubin, The Life of Madam de Beaumount, ii, 36:
        I resolved to continue in the Cave, with my two Servants, my Maid, and a Boy, whom I had brought from France.
    2. (historical or offensive) A non-white male servant regardless of age, [from 17th c.] particularly as a form of address.
      • 1625, W. Hawkins in Samuel Purchas, Hakluytus Posthumus or Purchas his Pilgrimes, Vol. I, iii, vii, 211:
        My Boy Stephen Grauener.
      • 1834, Edward Markham, New Zealand or Recollections of It, 72:
        They picked out two of the strongest of the Boys (as they call the Men) about the place.
      • 1876, Ebenezer Thorne, The Queen of the Colonies, or, Queensland as I Knew It, 58:
        The blacks who work on a station or farm are always, like the blacks in the Southern States, called boys.
      • 1907 May 13, N.Y. Evening Post, 6:
        [In Shanghai,] The register clerk assigns you to a room, and instead of ‘Front!’ he shouts ‘Boy!’
      • 1960 February 5, Northern Territory News, 5/5:
        Aborigine Wally... described himself as ‘number one boy’ at the station.
    3. (obsolete) A male camp follower.
  6. (now offensive) Any non-white male, regardless of age. [from 19th c.]
    • 1812, Anne Plumptre translating Hinrich Lichtenstein, Travels in Southern Africa, in the Years 1803, 1804, 1805, and 1806, Vol. I, i, viii, 119:
      A Hottentot... expects to be called by his name if addressed by any one who knows it; and by those to whom it is not known he expects to be called Hottentot... or boy.
    • 1888, Louis Diston Powles, Land of Pink Pearl, or Recollections of Life in the Bahamas, 66:
      Every darky, however old, is a boy.
    • 1973 September 8, Black Panther, 7/2:
      [In Alabama,] Guards still use the term ‘boy’ to refer to Black prisoners.
    • 1979, Bert Newton and Mohammed Ali, The Logie Awards:
      BN: [repeating a catchphrase] I like the boy.
      MA: [to hostile audience] Hold it, hold it, hold it. Easy. Did you say ‘Roy’ or ‘boy’?
      BN: ‘I like the boy’. There's nothing wrong with saying that... Hang on, hang on, hang on... I'll change religion, I'll do anything for ya, I don't bloody care... What's wrong with saying that? ‘I like the boy’?
      MA: Boy...
      BN: I mean, I like the man. I'm sorry, Muhammad.
  7. (in affectionate address) A male animal, especially a male dog. [from 15th c.]
    C'mere, boy! Good boy! Who's a good boy?
  8. (historical, military) A former low rank of various armed services; a holder of this rank.
    • 1841 May 6, Times in London, 5/4:
      Wounded... 1 Boy, 1st class, severely.
    • 1963 April 30, Times in London, 16/2:
      He joined the Navy as a boy second class in 1898.
  9. (US, slang) Heroin. [from 20th c.]

Synonyms

Antonyms

  • (young male): See Wikisaurus:girl

Derived terms

Descendants

Translations

Interjection

boy

  1. Exclamation of surprise, pleasure or longing.
    Boy, that was close!‎
    Boy, that tastes good!‎
    Boy, I wish I could go to Canada!‎

Related terms

Translations

Verb

boy ‎(third-person singular simple present boys, present participle boying, simple past and past participle boyed)

  1. to use the word boy to refer to someone
    Don't boy me!‎
  2. (transitive) to act as a boy (in allusion to the former practice of boys acting women's parts on the stage)
    • Shakespeare
      I shall see some squeaking Cleopatra boy my greatness.

See also

  • girl, man (antonyms in some senses)
  • Appendix:English collective nouns

References

  • Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, Springfield, Massachusetts, G.&C. Merriam Co., 1967

Statistics

Most common English words before 1923: five · need · met · #395: boy · c. · strong · dead

Anagrams

Cebuano

Etymology

From English boy.

Noun

boy

  1. houseboy, errand boy

Synonyms

Dutch

Pronunciation

Etymology

Borrowing from English boy.

Noun

boy m ‎(plural boys, diminutive boytje n)

  1. a male domestic servant, especially colored in a colony

See also

French

Etymology

Borrowing from English boy.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /bɔj/

Noun

boy m ‎(plural boys)

  1. (now historical, offensive) boy (non-white male servant)
    • 1930, André Malraux, La Voie royale:
      Claude allait l'ouvrir mais le ton sur lequel le délégué appelait son boy lui fit lever la tête : l'auto attendait, bleue sous l'ampoule de la porte; le boy, qui s'était écarté – en voyant arriver le délégué sans doute – se rapprochait, hésitant.

Italian

Etymology

Borrowing from English boy.

Noun

boy m ‎(inv)

  1. a male ballet dancer
  2. a bellboy (in a hotel)

Ladino

Etymology

Borrowing from Turkish boy ‎(“stature, size”).

Noun

boy m ‎(Latin spelling)

  1. age, size

Portuguese

Etymology 1

Shortening of office boy, from English office boy.

Alternative forms

Noun

boy m (plural boys)

  1. office boy
  2. (Brazil, slang) a young, upper-class male
Synonyms

Etymology 2

Noun

boy m (plural boys)

  1. Obsolete spelling of boi

Sranan Tongo

Etymology

From English boy.

Noun

boy

  1. boy

Turkish

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [boj]

Etymology 1

From Old Turkic bod, from Proto-Turkic *bod. See archaic bodur ‎(“stout, short”).

Noun

boy ‎(definite accusative }}}, plural }}})

  1. stature
    Boyun ne kadar?‎ ― How tall are you? (lit. "How much is your stature?")
  2. size
    küçük boy‎ ― small size
Derived terms
  • boylu
  • boyluluk
  • boysuz
  • boysuzluk

Etymology 2

From Old Turkic bod, from Proto-Turkic *bod.

Noun

boy ‎(definite accusative }}}, plural }}})

  1. tribe, clan
    eski Türk boyları tarihi‎ ― history of ancient Turkish clans
Declension

Etymology

From Middle English boy, boye ‎(“servant, commoner, knave, boy”), from Old English *bōia ‎(“boy”), from Proto-Germanic *bōjô ‎(“younger brother, young male relation”), from Proto-Germanic *bō- ‎(“brother, close male relation”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰā-, *bʰāt- ‎(“father, elder brother, brother”). Cognate with Scots boy ‎(“boy”), West Frisian boai ‎(“boy”), Middle Dutch boi, booi ‎(“boy”), Low German Boi ‎(“boy”), and probably to the Old English proper name Bōia. Also related to West Flemish boe ‎(“brother”), Norwegian dialectal boa ‎(“brother”), Dutch boef ‎(“rogue, knave”), German Bube ("boy; knave; jack"; > English bub), Icelandic bófi ‎(“rogue, crook, bandit, knave”). See also bully.

Pronunciation

Similar Results