"bully boy" meaning in English

See bully boy in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: bully boys [plural], bullyboy [alternative], bully-boy [alternative]
Head templates: {{en-noun}} bully boy (plural bully boys)
  1. A tough, aggressive man, especially one who is young. Synonyms (tough, aggressive man): leg-breaker, ruffian, thug
    Sense id: en-bully_boy-en-noun-ui5uiS2X Disambiguation of 'tough, aggressive man': 96 4
  2. (dated) A familiar male associate who is regarded rather fondly, especially one who is spirited and genial. Tags: dated Categories (topical): Male people Synonyms (familiar male associate): buddy, chum, good old boy, pal
    Sense id: en-bully_boy-en-noun-m3U40ofq Disambiguation of Male people: 18 82 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 25 75 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 21 79 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 7 93 Disambiguation of 'familiar male associate': 2 98

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "bully boys",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "bullyboy",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "bully-boy",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "bully boy (plural bully boys)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1953 August 17, “Italy: The Mills of Justice”, in Time:",
          "text": "Back in the Mussolini era, Carlo Corbisiero, part-time barber, brawler and bully boy of the village of Marzano di Nola, near Naples, was pretty proud of his nickname—\"Crackshot.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A tough, aggressive man, especially one who is young."
      ],
      "id": "en-bully_boy-en-noun-ui5uiS2X",
      "links": [
        [
          "tough",
          "tough"
        ],
        [
          "aggressive",
          "aggressive"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "_dis1": "96 4",
          "sense": "tough, aggressive man",
          "word": "leg-breaker"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "96 4",
          "sense": "tough, aggressive man",
          "word": "ruffian"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "96 4",
          "sense": "tough, aggressive man",
          "word": "thug"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "25 75",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "21 79",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "7 93",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "18 82",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Male people",
          "orig": "en:Male people",
          "parents": [
            "Male",
            "People",
            "Gender",
            "Human",
            "Biology",
            "Psychology",
            "Sociology",
            "All topics",
            "Sciences",
            "Social sciences",
            "Fundamental",
            "Society"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1878, Horatio Alger, chapter 19, in The Young Adventurer:",
          "text": "\"Then, boys, here's to the health of Mr. Ferguson. He's a bully boy, and no coward.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1920, Jeffery Farnol, The Geste of Duke Jocelyn, Fytte 5",
          "text": "\"For troth I'm a merry dog, I—a wanton wag, a bully boy and jovial, though woeful o' look!\""
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A familiar male associate who is regarded rather fondly, especially one who is spirited and genial."
      ],
      "id": "en-bully_boy-en-noun-m3U40ofq",
      "links": [
        [
          "familiar",
          "familiar"
        ],
        [
          "associate",
          "associate"
        ],
        [
          "rather",
          "rather"
        ],
        [
          "fond",
          "fond"
        ],
        [
          "spirited",
          "spirited"
        ],
        [
          "genial",
          "genial"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(dated) A familiar male associate who is regarded rather fondly, especially one who is spirited and genial."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "_dis1": "2 98",
          "sense": "familiar male associate",
          "word": "buddy"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "2 98",
          "sense": "familiar male associate",
          "word": "chum"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "2 98",
          "sense": "familiar male associate",
          "word": "good old boy"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "2 98",
          "sense": "familiar male associate",
          "word": "pal"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "dated"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "bully boy"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "en:Male people"
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "bully boys",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "bullyboy",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "bully-boy",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "bully boy (plural bully boys)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1953 August 17, “Italy: The Mills of Justice”, in Time:",
          "text": "Back in the Mussolini era, Carlo Corbisiero, part-time barber, brawler and bully boy of the village of Marzano di Nola, near Naples, was pretty proud of his nickname—\"Crackshot.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A tough, aggressive man, especially one who is young."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "tough",
          "tough"
        ],
        [
          "aggressive",
          "aggressive"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English dated terms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1878, Horatio Alger, chapter 19, in The Young Adventurer:",
          "text": "\"Then, boys, here's to the health of Mr. Ferguson. He's a bully boy, and no coward.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1920, Jeffery Farnol, The Geste of Duke Jocelyn, Fytte 5",
          "text": "\"For troth I'm a merry dog, I—a wanton wag, a bully boy and jovial, though woeful o' look!\""
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A familiar male associate who is regarded rather fondly, especially one who is spirited and genial."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "familiar",
          "familiar"
        ],
        [
          "associate",
          "associate"
        ],
        [
          "rather",
          "rather"
        ],
        [
          "fond",
          "fond"
        ],
        [
          "spirited",
          "spirited"
        ],
        [
          "genial",
          "genial"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(dated) A familiar male associate who is regarded rather fondly, especially one who is spirited and genial."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "dated"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "sense": "tough, aggressive man",
      "word": "leg-breaker"
    },
    {
      "sense": "tough, aggressive man",
      "word": "ruffian"
    },
    {
      "sense": "tough, aggressive man",
      "word": "thug"
    },
    {
      "sense": "familiar male associate",
      "word": "buddy"
    },
    {
      "sense": "familiar male associate",
      "word": "chum"
    },
    {
      "sense": "familiar male associate",
      "word": "good old boy"
    },
    {
      "sense": "familiar male associate",
      "word": "pal"
    }
  ],
  "word": "bully boy"
}

Download raw JSONL data for bully boy meaning in English (2.3kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-03-21 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-03-02 using wiktextract (db0bec0 and 633533e). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.