boy

plural boys · plural pronunciation spelling boyz · alternative boi

1. countableuncountableA male child.First known use 15th c.

   Kieran plays football with other boys in his school.

   5 more examples

   The ſtretes of the cite alſo ſhalbe full of yonge boyes and damſelles, playnge vpon the ſtretes.

   1535 October 14 (Gregorian calendar), Myles Coverdale, transl., Biblia: The Byble, […] (Coverdale Bible), [Cologne or Marburg]: [Eucharius Cervicornus and Johannes Soter?], →OCLC, Zachary [Zechariah] viij:[5], folio xcix, recto, column 2

   I find I was mistaken in the sex, it is a boy.

   1711 March 17 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Jonathan Swift, “[Dr. Swift’s Journal to Stella.] Letter XVII.”, in Thomas Sheridan, John Nichols, editors, The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, […], new edition, volume XIV, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1801, →OCLC, page 371

   Ah! happy years! once more who would not be a boy?

   1812, Lord Byron, “Canto II”, in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. A Romaunt, London: […] [F]or John Murray, […]; William Blackwood, Edinburgh; and John Cumming, Dublin; by Thomas Davison, […], →OCLC, stanza XXIII, page 72

   "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."

   1876, Frances Eliza Millett Notley, “A Tale of Love”, in The Kiddle-a-Wink, page 168

   Girls were offered baby dolls, princesses and sexy fashion figures; the boys section had superheroes, building blocks, science kits and dinosaurs.

   2014 January 31, Kelly Wallace, “Pink, princess-y and sexy too soon”, in CNN

2. broadlycountableinformaluncountableA young man.

   Kate is dating a boy named Jim.

   Synonyms: brat, knave, squirt

3. broadlycountablediminutiveespeciallyuncountableA son of any age.

   Low as that tide has ebbed with me, / It still reflects to memory’s eye / The hour, my brave, my only boy, / Fell by the side of great Dundee.

   1805, Walter Scott, “Canto Fourth”, in The Lay of the Last Minstrel: A Poem, London: […] [James Ballantyne] for Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, […], and A[rchibald] Constable and Co., […], →OCLC, stanza II, page 94

   2 more examples

   If I'd kept a woman, he realized, instead of sending 'em back to their fathers' lodges - the Shoshone girl, them two Hunkpapas, the Crow I called Sally, even that Ree that come near talking me to death - if I'd kept one of 'em for more than just a winter, I'd have boys of my own by now to bring in meat.

   1950, Dorothy M. Johnson, War Shirt; in Indian Country, London: Corgi, 1961, page 110

   I tried. I tried. But he wouldn't listen. My boy was stubborn. My boy was strong. And he was gonna get himself killed. Now I told him, I told him I did it too. That I was like Hoffman, getting by, and that's what you heard that night: me talking him down, him kicking and screaming until the fight went out of him. He put me up on a pedestal. And I had to show him that I was down in the gutter with the rest of them. Broke my boy. I broke my boy.

   2015, Gordon Smith, “Five-O” (38:10 from the start), in Better Call Saul, season 1, episode 6, spoken by Michael Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks)

   Synonyms: son

4. broadlycountablediminutiveendearinguncountableA male human younger than the speaker.First known use 17th c.
5. broadlycountablederogatoryinformalmildlysometimesuncountableA male human of any age, as opposed to a "girl" (female human of any age).

   boys' club

   3 more examples

   "My dear girl, what has he done?" said Mrs. Mallowe, sweetly. It is noticeable that ladies of a certain age call each other "dear girl," just as commissioners of twenty-eight years' standing address their equals in the Civil List as "my boy."

   1889, Rudyard Kipling, “The Education of Otis Yeere”, in Under the Deodars, Boston: The Greenock Press, published 1899, page 10

   "I know. Libert Valance and a couple of his boys."

   1949, Dorothy M. Johnson, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance; in Indian Country, London: Corgi, 1961, page 93

   It opened up a whole range [of feelings]. Some of them we were prepared for ― like for some women to feel some of the images were anti-feminist […] One woman wrote, "I can see the boys have taught you well." "Macho B.S.," someone else wrote.

   1989 December 10, Tatiana Schreiber, Liz Galst, Emma Stonebridge, “Drawing The Line: Lesbian Sex And Art: What Do You Like, How Do You Decide?”, in Gay Community News, volume 17, number 22, page 9

6. broadlycountableobsoleteuncountableA male of low station, (especially as pejorative) a worthless male, a wretch; a mean and dishonest male, a knave.First known use 14th–17th c.

   Do’ſt thou call mee foole boy?

   c. 1603–1606 (date written), [William Shakespeare], […] His True Chronicle Historie of the Life and Death of King Lear and His Three Daughters. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Nathaniel Butter, […], published 1608, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iv], signature [C4], verso

7. broadlycountableuncountablenow rare and usually offensive outside some Commonwealth nationsA male servant, slave, assistant, or employee, particularlyFirst known use 14th c.

   He allowed his ‘boy’ - an overfed young negro from the coast - to treat the white men, under his very eyes, with provoking insolence.

   1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 211

   1 more example

   “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, […]

   1973, Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow, 1st US edition, New York: Viking Press, →ISBN, part 1: Beyond the Zero, page 37

8. A male servant, slave, assistant, or employee
   1. broadlycountableuncountablenow rare and usually offensive outside some Commonwealth nationsA younger such worker.First known use 14th c.

      I resolved to continue in the Cave, with my two Servants, my Maid, and a Boy, whom I had brought from France.

      1721, Penelope Aubin, The Life of Madam de Beaumount, ii, 36

   2. broadlycountablehistoricaloffensiveuncountablenow rare and usually offensive outside some Commonwealth nationsA non-white male servant regardless of age, particularly as a form of address.First known use 14th c.

      My Boy Stephen Grauener.

      1625, W. Hawkins in Samuel Purchas, Hakluytus Posthumus or Purchas his Pilgrimes, Vol. I, iii, vii, 211

      5 more examples

      They picked out two of the strongest of the Boys (as they call the Men) about the place.

      1834, Edward Markham, New Zealand or Recollections of It, section 72

      The blacks who work on a station or farm are always, like the blacks in the Southern States, called boys.

      1876, Ebenezer Thorne, The Queen of the Colonies, or, Queensland as I Knew It, section 58

      From a domestic point of view the advent of the Chinese was a decided blessing, for, instead of the European ladies of the settlement having to do all their own work, they were able to employ a proper staff of Chinese boys.

      1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 233

      [In Shanghai,] The register clerk assigns you to a room, and instead of ‘Front!’ he shouts ‘Boy!’

      1907 May 13, Evening Post, N.Y, section 6

      He thrust his head into the aisle. "Boy!" A Chinese in a white coat responded listlessly. "What will you have? Beer?"

      1959, Anthony Burgess, Beds in the East (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 521

      Synonyms: chap, guy, lad, mate

   3. broadlycountableobsoleteuncountablenow rare and usually offensive outside some Commonwealth nationsA male camp follower.First known use 14th c.

      Godes plud kil the boyes and the lugyge, Tis the arrants peece of knauery[…]

      1599 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The Cronicle History of Henry the Fift, […] (First Quarto), London: […] Thomas Creede, for Tho[mas] Millington, and Iohn Busby […], published 1600, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene vii], signature [E4], verso

      1 more example

      If any water be rough and boysterous, or the chanell verye broade, it manye times drowneth the carriages and the boyes and nowe and then slouthfull and lyther souldiours.

      1572, Flavius Vegetius Renatus, translated by John Sadler, Foure Bookes... Contayninge a Plaine Forme, and Perfect Knowledge of Martiall Policye..., iii, vii

9. broadlycountableoffensiveuncountableAny non-white male, regardless of age.First known use 19th c.

   Every darky, however old, is a boy.

   1888, Louis Diston Powles, Land of Pink Pearl, or Recollections of Life in the Bahamas, section 66

   3 more examples

   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.

   1812, Anne Plumptre translating Hinrich Lichtenstein, Travels in Southern Africa, in the Years 1803, 1804, 1805, and 1806, Vol. I, i, viii, 119

   [In Alabama,] Guards still use the term ‘boy’ to refer to Black prisoners.

   1973 September 8, Black Panther, 7/2

   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.

   1979, Bert Newton, Mohammed Ali, The Logie Awards

10. broadlycountableespeciallyinformaluncountableA male friend.

    hanging with my boys

    1 more example

    The next thing I remember, I am walking down the street / I'm feeling all right, I'm with my boys, I'm with my troops, yeah.

    1980, Paul Simon, “Late in the Evening”, in One-Trick Pony

11. countableuncountableBDSMA male submissive.
12. countableuncountableA male non-human animal, especially, in affectionate address, a male pet, especially a dog.First known use 15th c.

    C'mere, boy! Good boy! Who's a good boy?

    1 more example

    Are you getting a boy cat or a girl cat?

13. countablehistoricaluncountablegovernmentA former low rank of various armed services; a holder of this rank.

    Wounded... 1 Boy, 1st class, severely.

    1841 May 6, Times, London, 5/4

    1 more example

    He joined the Navy as a boy second class in 1898.

    1963 April 30, Times, London, 16/2

14. USslanguncountableHeroin.First known use 20th c.

    […] drove by a corner, saw what I thought—no, what I knew—were dealers and asked if they knew where I could get some boy.

    2021, Tim Weber, Heroin: the Ripple Effect

    Synonyms: heroin

15. childishcountableoftenuncountableA male (tree, gene, etc).

    Of the 100 percent total, 25 will have two girl genes, 50 will have one boy and one girl gene, and 25 will have two boy genes.

    1970 [earlier 1963], Helen V. Wilson, Helen Van Pelt, Helen Van Pelt's African Violets, Dutton Adult

    1 more example

    Are there “boy” trees and “girl” trees? Yes. A number of species, among them the yew, holly and date-bearing palm, have their male and female flowers on different trees. The male holly, for instance, must be planted fairly close to the female ...

    1950, Pageant

16. colloquialcountableendearinguncountableAny tangible object close to one's person; often used in emphatic forms such as bad boy.

    This boy can really kick!

1. Exclamation of surprise, pleasure or longing.

   Boy, that was close!

   4 more examples

   Boy, that tastes good!

   Boy, I wish I could go to Canada!

   Time is running out, so I renounce a spin on a Class 387 for a fast run to Paddington on another Class 800 - a shame as the weather was perfect for pictures. Even so, it's enjoyable - boy, can those trains shift under the wires.

   2020 December 2, Paul Bigland, “My weirdest and wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail, page 68

   Taylor Swift has entered her engagement era. And, as befitting an artist whose image has always evolved to reflect the shifts in her music — not to mention one who has never been afraid to share her most Hallmark-seeped romantic fantasies — boy, does she have a new look to go with her new status.

   2025 August 27, Vanessa Friedman, “The Ralph Lauren Look of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s Engagement Photos”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC

present singular third person boys · participle present boying · participle past boyed · past boyed

1. transitiveTo 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.

   c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]

1. abbreviationinitialismnot comparableeducationInitialism of beginning of year.

   Coordinate term: EOY (“end of year”)