"old boy network" meaning in English

See old boy network in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Audio: En-au-old boy network.ogg Forms: old boy networks [plural]
Head templates: {{en-noun|head=old boy network}} old boy network (plural old boy networks)
  1. (idiomatic) A presumed unacknowledged system of association between childhood friends (especially those at school or university together), used for mutual assistance or favouritism. Tags: idiomatic Synonyms: good old boy network, old-boy network Related terms: old boys' club, cronyism Translations (system of favouritism): vanhojen kaverien verkosto (Finnish), gutteklubb [masculine] (Norwegian Bokmål), gutteklubben Grei (Norwegian Bokmål), kolesiostwo [neuter] (Polish)

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

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      "form": "old boy networks",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
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  "head_templates": [
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1982 April 10, David Morris, “Highly Segregated”, in Gay Community News, page 2:",
          "text": "Another BWMT member said bars have no open advertising for bartenders and no affirmative action policy. He said bars hire \"young, good looking white men\" through an \"old-boy network.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007, Tim Weiner, Legacy of Ashes, Penguin, published 2008, page 7:",
          "text": "His hiring and promotion of senior officers rested not on merit but on an old-boy network of connections from Wall Street and the Social Register.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A presumed unacknowledged system of association between childhood friends (especially those at school or university together), used for mutual assistance or favouritism."
      ],
      "id": "en-old_boy_network-en-noun-OR073yYD",
      "links": [
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          "unacknowledged",
          "unacknowledged"
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        [
          "association",
          "association"
        ],
        [
          "assistance",
          "assistance"
        ],
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          "favouritism",
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        "(idiomatic) A presumed unacknowledged system of association between childhood friends (especially those at school or university together), used for mutual assistance or favouritism."
      ],
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          "word": "old boys' club"
        },
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          "word": "good old boy network"
        },
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          "word": "old-boy network"
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          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "system of favouritism",
          "word": "vanhojen kaverien verkosto"
        },
        {
          "code": "nb",
          "lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
          "sense": "system of favouritism",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "gutteklubb"
        },
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          "code": "nb",
          "lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
          "sense": "system of favouritism",
          "word": "gutteklubben Grei"
        },
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          "sense": "system of favouritism",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
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  "lang_code": "en",
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          "ref": "1982 April 10, David Morris, “Highly Segregated”, in Gay Community News, page 2:",
          "text": "Another BWMT member said bars have no open advertising for bartenders and no affirmative action policy. He said bars hire \"young, good looking white men\" through an \"old-boy network.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007, Tim Weiner, Legacy of Ashes, Penguin, published 2008, page 7:",
          "text": "His hiring and promotion of senior officers rested not on merit but on an old-boy network of connections from Wall Street and the Social Register.",
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      ],
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        ],
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        "(idiomatic) A presumed unacknowledged system of association between childhood friends (especially those at school or university together), used for mutual assistance or favouritism."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "good old boy network"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
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  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "system of favouritism",
      "word": "vanhojen kaverien verkosto"
    },
    {
      "code": "nb",
      "lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
      "sense": "system of favouritism",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "gutteklubb"
    },
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      "code": "nb",
      "lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
      "sense": "system of favouritism",
      "word": "gutteklubben Grei"
    },
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      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "system of favouritism",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "kolesiostwo"
    }
  ],
  "word": "old boy network"
}

Download raw JSONL data for old boy network meaning in English (2.7kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-10-02 using wiktextract (fbeafe8 and 7f03c9b). 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.

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