English
boss
Pronunciation
  • (RP): IPA: /bɒs/
  • (America): IPA: /bɔs/
  • (cot-caught, Canada): IPA: /bɑs/
Noun

boss (plural bosses)

  1. A person who oversees and directs the work of others; a supervisor.
    • Bad people make for bad bosses.
  2. A person in charge of a business or company.
    Chat turned to whisper when the boss entered the conference room.
    My boss complains that I'm always late to work.
  3. A leader, the head of an organized group or team.
    They named him boss because he had good leadership skills.
  4. The head of a political party in a given region or district.
    He is the Republican boss in Kentucky.
  5. (informal, especially, India and MLE) A term of address to a man.
    Yes, boss.
  6. (video games) An enemy, often at the end of a level, that is particularly challenging and must be beaten in order to progress.
  7. (humorous) Wife.
    There's no olive oil; will sunflower oil do? — I'll have to run that by the boss.
Synonyms Translations Translations Translations
  • French: chef, patron
  • Russian: руководи́тель
Translations
  • Portuguese: líder
  • Russian: ли́дер
Translations Translations
Verb

boss (bosses, present participle bossing; past and past participle bossed)

  1. (transitive) To exercise authoritative control over; to tell (someone) what to do, often repeatedly.
    Synonyms: lord over, boss around
    • 1931, Robert L. May, Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer, Montgomery Ward (publisher):
      By YOU last night’s journey was actually bossed / Without you, I’m certain, we’d all have been lost.
    • 1932, Lorine Pruette, The Parent and the Happy Child, page 76
      His sisters bossed him and spoiled him. All their lives he was to go on being their little brother, who could do no wrong, because he was the baby; [...]
    • 1967, Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, The purloined paperweight, page 90
      She bossed him, and he's never gotten over it. She still orders him around, and instead of telling her to go soak her head, he just says 'Yes, ma'am' as weak as a newborn jellyfish [...]
    • 1980, Jean Toomer The wayward and the seeking: a collection of writings by Jean Toomer, page 40
      For if, on the one hand, I bossed him and showed him what to do and how to do it, [...]
Translations
Adjective

boss (not comparable)

  1. (slang, American, Canadian, Liverpool) Of excellent quality, first-rate.
    That is a boss Zefron poster.
Noun

boss (plural bosses)

  1. A swelling, lump or protuberance in an animal, person or object.
  2. (geology) A lump-like mass of rock, especially one projecting through a stratum of different rock.
  3. A convex protuberance in hammered work, especially the rounded projection in the centre of a shield.
  4. (mechanics) A protrusion, frequently a cylinder of material that extends beyond a hole.
    • 1985, Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian, chapter IV
      The seargent ... screwing a bipod into the threaded boss on the underside of the barrel would kill these animals ...
  5. (architecture) A knob or projection, usually at the intersection of ribs in a vault.
  6. (archery) A target block, made of foam but historically made of hay bales, to which a target face is attached.
  7. A wooden vessel for the mortar used in tiling or masonry, hung by a hook from the laths, or from the rounds of a ladder.
  8. A head or reservoir of water.
Translations Translations Translations
Verb

boss (bosses, present participle bossing; past and past participle bossed)

  1. (transitive) To decorate with bosses; to emboss.
Noun

boss (plural bosses)

  1. (obsolete) A hassock or small seat, especially made from a bundle of straw.
    • 1916, James Joyce, ''Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Macmillan Press Ltd, paperback, 36:
      All were waiting : uncle Charles, who sat far away in the shadow of the window, Dante and Mr Casey, who sat in the easy chairs at either side of the hearth, Stephen, seated on a chair between them, his feet resting on a toasting boss.
Synonyms Translations
BOSS
Proper noun
  1. (US, finance) Initialism of Bond and Option Sales Strategy


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