boss

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“
She had been an Obama fan from early on, but had to keep that quiet at the office, as her boss was a staunch Republican.

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Definitions (58)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (14)

  1. noun An employer or a supervisor.
  2. noun One who makes decisions or exercises authority.
  3. noun A professional politician who controls a party or a political machine.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (34)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (3)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (7)

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Examples (50)

  • You know when a teacher or a boss is about to tell you you've done something very wrong? —  XXXX
  • And despite any thoughts I have about my daily grind, I don't mind doing certain things, for my boss is a great guy and an advocate for those who work under him. —  Mele Cotte
  • It's reassuring to find evidence that "I'm not the only one who thinks our boss is a disorganized mess." —  Psychology Today
  • If the boss was a racist, how come he did so much for the black guy? —  Tongue Tied 3
  • "Your boss is the taxpayer and your boss needs to know what you make," he said. —  Maine News Updates - Central Maine Newspapers, Kennebec Journal, Morning Sentinel
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This word has been looked up 220 times.

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

manager ·  guy ·  employer ·  supervisor ·  leader ·  cop ·  owner ·  executive ·  partner ·  lawyer ·  secretary ·  doctor

Used in the same contextWord Family

boss:   bosses ·  bossed
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (12)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. Dutch baas, master.
  2. Middle English boce, from Old French.
  3. Perhaps ultimately from Latin bōs; see bovine.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (9)

  1. from Middle English bos, bose, boce, a boss, from Old French boce, the boss of a buckler, a botch or boil, French bosse, boss, hump, swelling, = Provencal bossa = Italian bozzo, a blotch, swelling (also Old French (Norman) boche, later Middle English bocche, English botch, q. v.); prob. from Old High German bōzo, a bundle (of flax), bōz, a blow, from bōzan, Middle High German bōzen, German bossen, strike, beat, = English beat: see beat. Cf. emboss.
  2. from Middle English *bossen, bocen; from the noun.
  3. from Middle English bose, boce, a cask; cf. Old French busse, a cask, Dutch bus, a box, bos, a package: see box.
  4. English dial.; cf. Middle Dutch bosse, busse, Dutch bus, a box, buis, a tube, pipe, channel, = Danish bösse = Swedish bössa, a box: see box, and cf. boss.
  5. English dial., perhaps a variant of equivalent bass, q. v.; but cf. Dutch bos, a bundle, as of straw.
  6. Also written bos, bois; origin obscure.
  7. A word derived from the Dutch settlers in New York; from Dutch baas, master, foreman (used literally and figuratively like boss in American use: een timmermans-baas, a boss carpenter, de vrouw is de baas, the wife is the boss; hij is hem de baas in het zingen, he is the boss in singing, etc.), Middle Dutch baes, master of the house, also a friend, feminine baesinne, mistress of the house, also a friend, = Flemish baes = Low German baas, master, foreman (later Danish bas, master), = Old High German basa = Middle High German base, feminine, aunt, German base, feminine, cousin (dial. also aunt, niece), apparently ult. identical with G. wase = Low German wase, feminine, cousin, aunt. The word, in the masculine, seems to have meant ‘kinsman, cousin,’ and to have been used especially as ref. to the master of the household, the chief ‘kinsman,’ in fact or by courtesy, of the inmates.
  8. from boss, n.
  9. Origin uncertain; perhaps orig. a learnedly humorous use of Latin bos, cow; cf. Icelandic bās, bās, an exclamation used in driving cows into their stalls (bāss, a stall, boose: see boose).
 

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/bɑs/
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