boss

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. An employer or a supervisor.
2. n. One who makes decisions or exercises authority.
3. n. A professional politician who controls a party or a political machine.
4. v. To supervise or control. See Synonyms at supervise.
5. v. To give orders to, especially in an arrogant or domineering manner: bossing us around.
6. v. To be or act as a supervisor or controlling element.
7. adj. Slang First-rate; topnotch.
8. n. A circular protuberance or knoblike swelling, as on the horns of certain animals.
9. n. A raised area used as ornamentation.
10. n. Architecture A raised ornament, such as one at the intersection of the ribs in a vaulted roof.
11. n. An enlarged part of a shaft to which another shaft is coupled or to which a wheel or gear is keyed.
12. n. A hub, especially of a propeller.
13. v. To emboss.
14. n. A cow or calf.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A protuberant part; a round, swelling process or excrescence on the body or upon some organ of an animal or plant.
2. n. A hump or hunch on the back; a humpback.
3. n. A bulky animal.
4. n. A fat woman.
5. n. A stud or knob. Specifically, a knob or protuberant ornament of silver, ivory, or other material, used on bridles, harness, the centers of ancient shields, etc., or affixed to any object. Bosses are placed at regular intervals on the sides of some book-covers, for the purpose of preserving the gilding or the leather of the cover from abrasion.
6. n. In sculpture, a projecting mass to be afterward cut or carved.
7. n. In architecture, an ornament placed at the intersection of the ribs or groins in vaulted or flat roofs, sometimes richly sculptured with armorial bearings or other devices; also, any projecting ball or knot of foliage, etc., wherever placed.
8. n. In mech.: The enlarged part of a shaft on which a wheel is to be keyed, or any enlarged part of the diameter, as the end of a separate piece in a line of shafts connected by couplings. Hollow shafts through which others pass are sometimes also called bosses, but improperly.
9. n. A swage or die used for shaping metals.
10. n. In ordnance: A cast-iron plate fastened to the back of a traveling-forge hearth.
11. n. Any protuberance or lug upon a piece of ordnance.
12. n. A soft leather cushion or pad used for bossing (which see), and also for cleaning gilded surfaces and the like in porcelain- and glass-manufacture.
13. n. A water-conduit in the form of tun-bellied figure; a head or reservoir of water.
14. To ornament with bosses; bestud.
15. Same as emboss.
16. In ceramics, to bring (a surface of boiled oil) to perfect uniformity. See bossing, 1.
17. n. A cask, especially a small cask; a leather bottle for wine.
18. n. A wooden vessel used by plasterers for holding mortar, hung by a hook on a ladder or a wall.
19. n. A hassock; a bass.
20. Hollow; empty: as, “his thick boss head,”
21. n. A master. Specifically— One who employs or superintends workmen; a head man, foreman, or manager: as, the bosses have decided to cut down wages. [U. S.]
22. n. In United States politics, an influential politician who uses the machinery of a party for private ends, or for the advantage of a ring or clique; a professional politician having paramount local influence.
23. n. The chief; the master; the champion; the best or leading person or thing.
24. Chief; master; hence, first-rate: as, a boss mason; a boss player.
25. To be master of or over; manage; direct; control: as, to boss the house.
26. n. In the United States: A familiar name for a cow, or any of the bovine genus: chiefly used in calling or in soothing. On the Western plains, a name for the bison or so-called buffalo.
27. n. In geology, an irregular knob-like outcrop of eruptive rock, especially of granite.
28. n. The worked-out portion of a mine; the goaf.
29. In mining, to hole or undercut.

Wiktionary

1. n. A swelling, lump or protuberance in an animal, person or object.
2. n. geology A lump-like mass of rock, especially one projecting through a strata of different rock.
3. n. A convex protuberance in hammered work, especially the rounded projection in the centre of a shield.
4. n. mechanics A protrusion, frequently a cylinder of material that extends beyond a hole.
5. n. architecture A knob or projection, usually at the intersection of ribs in a vault.
6. n. archery the target block, made of foam but historically made of hay bales, to which a target face is attached.
7. v. transitive To decorate with bosses; to emboss.
8. n. obsolete A hassock or small seat, especially made from a bundle of straw.
9. n. A person who oversees and directs the work of others; a supervisor.
10. n. A person in charge of a business or company.
11. n. A leader, the head of an organized group or team.
12. n. The head of a political party in a given region or district.
13. n. informal A term of address to a man.
14. n. video games An enemy, often at the end of a level, that is particularly challenging and must be beaten in order to progress in, or complete, the game.
15. n. humorous Wife.
16. v. transitive To exercise authoritative control over; to lord over; to boss around; to tell (someone) what to do, often repeatedly.
17. adj. slang, Liverpudlian Of excellent quality, first-rate.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. Any protuberant part; a round, swelling part or body; a knoblike process.
2. n. A protuberant ornament on any work, either of different material from that of the work or of the same, as upon a buckler or bridle; a stud; a knob; the central projection of a shield. See Umbilicus.
3. n. (Arch.) A projecting ornament placed at the intersection of the ribs of ceilings, whether vaulted or flat, and in other situations.
4. n. 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.
5. n. The enlarged part of a shaft, on which a wheel is keyed, or at the end, where it is coupled to another.
6. n. A swage or die used for shaping metals.
7. n. obsolete A head or reservoir of water.
8. v. To ornament with bosses; to stud.
9. n. Slang, U. S. A master workman or superintendent; a director or manager; a political dictator.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a person responsible for hiring workers
2. n. a person who exercises control and makes decisions
3. adj. exceptionally good
4. n. a person who exercises control over workers
5. n. a circular rounded projection or protuberance
6. v. raise in a relief
7. n. a leader in a political party who controls votes and dictates appointments