The Dutch settlements in North America all came under English rule in the 1660s and 1670s, but Dutch continued to be spoken in the region long afterward. In American English, the lexical heritage of the Dutch colonies includes dope, stoop (meaning “porch”), and Santa Claus. Perhaps the most pervasive Dutch loanword is boss, from the Dutch baas, meaning “master.” The word first appears in the form boss in 1806, used by Washington Irving. Part of its success seems to have resulted from an American aversion to master, which was common in British use.
Adjective
a boss new rock band
that's a really boss stereo you've got
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
Should remote worker bring up boss’s mean emails or look for another job?—oregonlive, 1 June 2023 Paxton’s chief deputy, Brent Webster, was passed over to fill in until his boss’s trial.—Molly Hennessy-fiske, Anchorage Daily News, 1 June 2023 Pence’s presidential bid will pit him against his former boss and running mate, former President Donald Trump, who’s seeking a second term and is for now the early frontrunner.—Alexandra Meeks, CNN, 1 June 2023 Having Mazzulla as the coach is like having Marcus Smart as the bench boss.—Christopher L. Gasper, BostonGlobe.com, 31 May 2023 Schmidt wanted to make a horror film and had taken a meeting about the next entry in the Hellraiser franchise, which was in the process of becoming a straight-to-video series under the stewardship of Dimension Films boss Bob Weinstein.—Clark Collis, EW.com, 30 May 2023 My boss, Bro Krift, took to Twitter to bravely share his experience of bringing dad energy to the Snake Pit.—The Indianapolis Star, 28 May 2023 The boss Rick Ross running for mayor of Fayetteville.—Justin Ray, Robb Report, 26 May 2023 The senator was an interesting subject, but I was equally drawn to Murphy, who resembled his boss in some ways — the Southern drawl, the raconteur charm.—Ben Terris, Washington Post, 26 May 2023
Verb
The drolly demented new thriller (now playing in select cities, in theaters nationwide Friday) follows a wealthy hotel heir named Hal (Christopher Abbott), who gets pleasure from being bossed around and humiliated by his longtime dominatrix, Rebecca (Margaret Qualley).—Patrick Ryan, USA TODAY, 1 June 2023 What better place to target that regression against a City offense that performs exponentially better at home and has bossed fellow Big Six opponents?—Nick Hennion, Chicago Tribune, 31 Mar. 2023 The recipients of the emails felt confused, bossed around and uninvolved.—Janine Schindler, Forbes, 4 May 2023 Further, their defense has bossed the Clippers in two head-to-head meetings this season.—Nick Hennion, Chicago Tribune, 16 Feb. 2023 In addition to co-writing the 2011 Ryan Reynolds Green Lantern movie, Guggenheim also recently worked on the splashy Green Lantern TV series developed for HBO Max, though that series is no longer moving forward under a change in direction by new DC Studios bosses James Gunn and Peter Safran.—Aaron Couch, The Hollywood Reporter, 17 Feb. 2023 Indeed, one reason that older sisters feel so comfortable bossing younger ones around and giving them advice is precisely because there is a strong connection between them.—Deborah Tannen, Scientific American, 1 Mar. 2016 Will Marshall finally boss up?—Vulture, 4 Apr. 2023 Brentford has bossed weaker competition at home this season.—Nick Hennion, Chicago Tribune, 18 Mar. 2023
Adjective
Binning notes that Democratic U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of the Niles area, a former Traficant aide who won his ex-boss' congressional seat, was re-elected Tuesday by his smallest-ever margin, defeating GOP former state legislator Christina Hagan by 7.5 percentage points.—Sabrina Eaton, cleveland, 6 Nov. 2020 This excludes things like putting in legendaries for end of mission rewards or taking them out of non-boss chests.—Paul Tassi, Forbes, 12 Mar. 2021 See More
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'boss.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
Noun (1), Verb (1), and Adjective
Dutch baas master
Noun (2) and Verb (2)
Middle English boce, from Anglo-French, from Vulgar Latin *bottia
Share