boy

Kieran plays football with other boys in his school.

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 18 (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: Printed for 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:

(particularly) A male child or adolescent, as distinguished from an infant or adult.

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:

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):

(diminutive, especially with a possessive) A son of any age.

(endearing, diminutive) A male human younger than the speaker.

boys' club

"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:

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:

(informal, sometimes mildly derogatory) A male human of any age, as opposed to a "girl" (female human of any age).

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:

(obsolete) A male of low station, (especially as pejorative) a worthless male, a wretch; a mean and dishonest male, a knave.

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:

(now rare and usually offensive outside some Commonwealth nations) A male servant, slave, assistant, or employee, particularly:

A male servant, slave, assistant, or employee

My Boy Stephen Grauener.

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

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:

Aborigine Wally... described himself as ‘number one boy’ at the station.

1960 February 5, Northern Territory News, 5/5:

(historical or offensive) A non-white male servant regardless of age, particularly as a form of address.

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:

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:

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:

“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:

A male servant, slave, assistant, or employee, particularly

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

Every darky, however old, is a boy.

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

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

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:

(offensive, derogatory, by extension) A man who belongs to a race, nation etc. that is inferior.

A man who belongs to a race, nation etc. that is inferior.

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:

(informal, especially with a possessive) A male friend.

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

Are you getting a boy cat or a girl cat?

A male non-human animal, especially, in affectionate address, a male pet, especially a dog.

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

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

(historical, military) A former low rank of various armed services; a holder of this rank.

[…] 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:

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 ...

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

(somewhat childish) A male (tree, gene, etc).

en-noun

boy (countable and uncountable, plural boys or (eye dialect) boyz)

boys (plural)
boyz (plural pronunciation-spelling)
boi (alternative)

all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy

since Adam was an oakum boy in Chatham Dockyard

when Adam was an oakum boy in Chatham Dockyard

Jamaican Creole: bwoy

Sranan Tongo: boi, boy

→ Cebuano: boy

→ Chinese: boy

desctree

→ Dutch: boy
→ French: boy
→ Lingala: bɔ́i
→ Indonesian: boi

→ Dutch: boy
→ French: boy
→ Lingala: bɔ́i
→ Indonesian: boi

→ German: Boy

→ Hungarian: boy

→ Iraqi Arabic: بوي

→ Italian: boy

→ Japanese: ボーイ (bōi)

→ Polish: boy

→ Russian: бой (boj)

→ Spanish: boy

→ Swahili: boi

→ Tagalog: boy

→ Vietnamese: bồi

→ Welsh: boi

boy

formerly, African male servant in colonies

mutil

male of any age, used as a friendly diminutive

poika

affectionate term of address for male dog

Etymology tree
Proto-West Germanic *bōjō
Old English *bōia
Middle English boye
English boy
From Middle English boy /boye (“servant, commoner, knave, boy”), from Old English *bōia (“boy”), from Proto-West Germanic *bōjō, from Proto-Germanic *bōjô (“younger brother, young male relation”), from Proto-Germanic *bō- (“brother, close male relation”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰā-, *bʰāt- (“father, elder brother, brother”).
Cognate with Scots boy (“boy”), West Frisian boai (“boy”), Dutch boi (“boy”), Low German Boi (“boy”), and probably to the Old English proper name Bōia. Also related to West Flemish boe (“brother”), Norwegian dialectal boa (“brother”), Dutch boef (“rogue, knave”), Bavarian Bua (“young boy, lad”), German Bube ("boy; knave; jack"; > English bub), Icelandic bófi (“rogue, crook, bandit, knave”). See also bully.

inh

Middle English boy /boye (“servant, commoner, knave, boy”)

Proto-Germanic *bōjô (“younger brother, young male relation”)

der

Proto-Germanic *bō- (“brother, close male relation”)

gloss

"boy; knave; jack"; > English <i class="Latn mention" lang="en">bub</i>

cog

Icelandic bófi (“rogue, crook, bandit, knave”)


boy

Boy, that was close!

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:

Exclamation of surprise, pleasure or longing.


boy

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]:

(transitive) To act as a boy (in allusion to the former practice of boys acting women's parts on the stage).

en-verb

boy (third-person singular simple present boys, present participle boying, simple past and past participle boyed)

boys (present singular third-person)
boying (participle present)
boyed (participle past)
boyed (past)