boy JUST WRITTEN FOR YOU
/bɔːə/ · boy
noun
- A young male. The boy raced his bike down the hill.
- (diminutive) A male child: a son of any age. She proudly showed off her little boy at the school play.
- (diminutive) A male of any age, particularly one rather younger than the speaker. Hey, boy, could you pass me the wrench?
verb
- To address or refer to someone as ‘boy’. He tends to boy his teammates, which many find condescending.
- To act as a boy, especially in historic theatre where boys played women’s parts. In Shakespeare’s time, actors would often boy the female roles.
interjection
- An exclamation of surprise, pleasure, or longing. Boy, that was the best pizza I’ve ever tasted!
Did you know? In the 16th century, ‘boy’ was also used to describe a male servant, a sense that survives today in phrases like ‘stable boy’.