whiteboy

plural whiteboys · alternative white boy

1. archaiccountableuncountableA man or boy who is highly favoured; a pet, a darling.First known use 17th c.

   Were war at the gates, I should be one of her white boys.

   1821 January 8, [Walter Scott], Kenilworth; a Romance. […], volume II, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; and John Ballantyne, […]; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC

2. alternativecountablehistoricaluncountableAlternative form of WhiteboyFirst known use 18th c.

   He was a good Irishman when there was no money in the job. He was condemned to death as a whiteboy.

   1916, James Joyce, chapter I, in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, New York, N.Y.: B[enjamin] W. Huebsch, →OCLC

3. countablederogatorysometimesuncountablechiefly African-AmericanA Caucasian male.First known use 20th c.

   whiteboy still more than anything else this betrays me.

   2011, Kevin Coval, Patricia Smith, L-vis Lives!: Racemusic Poems, link

   2 more examples

   The words of the whiteboy crept into his mind as he got ready to crawl out of bed—and he once again realized Cassandra hardly ever showered.

   2006, Eminemsrevenge, Jew Girl, page 164

   “Shut up, whiteboy. How does it feel to hit a girl? You feel strong?

   2011, Berel Arrow, The Thirty Six, page 9

4. slanguncountableHeroin.

   Coordinate term: whitegirl (“cocaine”)

plural Whiteboys

1. A member of the Whiteboys, a secret Irish agrarian organization in 18th-century Ireland, using violent tactics to defend tenant farmers' land rights for subsistence farming.