Meanings
nounbusboy (plural busboys)
plural busboys
- USAn assistant waiter; one who clears plates from and cleans tables.
Katara might be able to pull it off, but you two would be lucky to pass as busboys.
2006 September 22, Tim Hedrick, “City of Walls and Secrets” (12:23 from the start), in Lauren MacMullan, director, Avatar: The Last Airbender, season 2 (Book Two: Earth), episode 14, spoken by Toph Beifong (Jessie Flower)
Synonyms & antonyms
Also see
Origin
Clipping of omnibus (“assistant waiter”) + boy.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Dutch bordenwasser
- bordenwasserassistant waiter; one who clears plates from and cleans tables
Finnish plokkari
- plokkariassistant waiter; one who clears plates from and cleans tables
German Hilfskellner
- Hilfskellnerassistant waiter; one who clears plates from and cleans tables
Hungarian kisegítő pincér/felszolgáló
- kisegítő pincér/felszolgálóassistant waiter; one who clears plates from and cleans tables
Indonesian pramudapur, pramumeja
- pramudapurassistant waiter; one who clears plates from and cleans tables
- pramumejaassistant waiter; one who clears plates from and cleans tables
Portuguese cumim
- cumimassistant waiter; one who clears plates from and cleans tables
Romanian picolo
- picoloassistant waiter; one who clears plates from and cleans tables
Spanish ayudante de camarero, ayudante de mozo
- ayudante de camareroassistant waiter; one who clears plates from and cleans tables
- ayudante de mozoassistant waiter; one who clears plates from and cleans tables
- galopín [de cocina]assistant waiter; one who clears plates from and cleans tables
- comísassistant waiter; one who clears plates from and cleans tables
- galopilloassistant waiter; one who clears plates from and cleans tables
Swedish diskplockare, nisse
- diskplockareassistant waiter; one who clears plates from and cleans tables
- nisseassistant waiter; one who clears plates from and cleans tables
Turkish garson yamağı
- garson yamağıassistant waiter; one who clears plates from and cleans tables
Cite this entry
APA
busboy. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/busboy
MLA
“busboy.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/busboy. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “busboy,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/busboy.
Source: busboy on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.