BOY • FREE-TRANSLATOR.COM • Definition of Boy

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/bɔɪ/ Listen

noun

Boy n.

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." Note: 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.

2.

In various countries, a male servant, laborer, or slave of a native or inferior race; also, any man of such a race; considered derogatory by those so called, and now seldom used. (derog.) "He reverted again and again to the labor difficulty, and spoke of importing boys from Capetown."

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.

verb

Boy v. 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."

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Etymology of 'Boy'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Boy" Quotes from Famous Books

... says (De Doctr. Christ. ii, 20) that "a thousand vain observances are comprised under the head of compacts entered into with the demons: for instance, the twitching of a limb; a stone, a dog, or a boy coming between friends walking together; kicking the door-post when anyone passes in front of one's house; to go back to bed if you happen to sneeze while putting on your shoes; to return home if you ...

— Summa Theologica, Part II-II (Secunda Secundae) • Thomas Aquinas

... like to see his poor old Jack starve—but just you look where he has climbed to." . . . He hiccoughed in a superior, leisurely manner. . . . "Ship-owning it with the best. A lottery ticket you want. Ha! ha! I will give you lottery tickets, my boy. Let the old ship sink and the old chum starve—that's right. He don't go wrong—Massy don't. Not he. He's a genius—that man is. That's the way to win your money. Ship and chum ...

— End of the Tether • Joseph Conrad

... vain enough to suspect, foolish boy, but come! Do you think that I have nothing to talk about but nonsense? Come and see me. It may be better for you. I live in—' and she named a fashionable street, which Philammon, though he inwardly vowed not to accept the invitation, somehow could ...

— Hypatia - or, New Foes with an Old Face • Charles Kingsley

... slipped down an' stepped slow to the Red King's head. He put up his arms an' they closed over the arched neck an' his cheek laid against the satin skin of him. For what seemed like a long time they stood there, an' then Tex stepped back an' pointed to the yellow range: 'Go on, boy!' he said, 'Go!' An' he brought the flat of his hand down with a slap on the shiny flank. For just an instant the horse hesitated an' then he went over the edge. The loose rocks clattered loud, an' then come the sound of hoofs on the sod as the Red King tore ...

— Prairie Flowers • James B. Hendryx

... still almost a boy when he broke with Wycherley; but he was already beginning to attract attention, and within a surprisingly short time he was becoming known as one of the first writers of the day. I must now turn to the poems by which this reputation ...

— Alexander Pope - English Men of Letters Series • Leslie Stephen

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