"old boy network" meaning in English

See old boy network in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Audio: En-au-old boy network.ogg [Australia] 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)
    Sense id: en-old_boy_network-en-noun-OR073yYD Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for old boy network meaning in English (2.5kB)

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "old boy networks",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "head": "old boy network"
      },
      "expansion": "old boy network (plural old boy networks)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "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": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "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": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "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": [
        [
          "unacknowledged",
          "unacknowledged"
        ],
        [
          "association",
          "association"
        ],
        [
          "assistance",
          "assistance"
        ],
        [
          "favouritism",
          "favouritism"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) A presumed unacknowledged system of association between childhood friends (especially those at school or university together), used for mutual assistance or favouritism."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "old boys' club"
        },
        {
          "word": "cronyism"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "good old boy network"
        },
        {
          "word": "old-boy network"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "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"
        },
        {
          "code": "nb",
          "lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
          "sense": "system of favouritism",
          "word": "gutteklubben Grei"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "system of favouritism",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "kolesiostwo"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-old boy network.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/4e/En-au-old_boy_network.ogg/En-au-old_boy_network.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/En-au-old_boy_network.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "old boy network"
}
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "old boy networks",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "head": "old boy network"
      },
      "expansion": "old boy network (plural old boy networks)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "old boys' club"
    },
    {
      "word": "cronyism"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English countable nouns",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
        "English terms with audio links",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "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": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "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": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A presumed unacknowledged system of association between childhood friends (especially those at school or university together), used for mutual assistance or favouritism."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "unacknowledged",
          "unacknowledged"
        ],
        [
          "association",
          "association"
        ],
        [
          "assistance",
          "assistance"
        ],
        [
          "favouritism",
          "favouritism"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(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": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-old boy network.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/4e/En-au-old_boy_network.ogg/En-au-old_boy_network.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/En-au-old_boy_network.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "old-boy network"
    }
  ],
  "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"
    },
    {
      "code": "nb",
      "lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
      "sense": "system of favouritism",
      "word": "gutteklubben Grei"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "system of favouritism",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "kolesiostwo"
    }
  ],
  "word": "old boy network"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-03 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). 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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