1857. C. Kingsley, Two Years Ago, ch. x. I always like to read old
Darwin’s Loves of the Plants, bosh as it is in a scientific point
of view.
1880. Punch, 10 Jan., p. 9, col. 2. ‘Prophet,’ said I, ‘of things
evil!’ ‘Things are going to the devil’ Is the formula of fogies, I
have heard that bosh before.
Verb.—To humbug; to spoil; to mar.
1870. Macmillan’s Magazine, XXI, 71. You bosh his joke [a man’s] by
refusing to laugh at it; you bosh his chance of sleep by playing on
the cornet all night in the room next to him. [M.]
1883. Miss Braddon, Golden Calf, ch. xiv. ‘And wouldn’t he make a
jolly schoolmaster?’ exclaimed Reginald. ‘Boys would get on
capitally with Jardine. They’d never try to bosh him.’
Intj.—Nonsense! Rubbish! It’s all my eye!—See All my eye.
1852. Dickens, Bleak House, ch. xxi. Bosh! It’s all correct.
1889. Pall Mall Gazette, October 30, p. 3, col. 1. ‘You always
learn in front of the looking-glass, do you not, Mr.
Brandram?’—‘Bosh!’ was the laughing reply. ‘I generally learn my
plays and recitations whilst I am dressing; but you don’t think I
deliberately stand and make monkey-faces in the looking-glass.’
Bosh Faker, subs. (vagrants’).—A violin player. [From Gypsy bosh, a
violin, + faker, a performer or player.]
1876. Hindley, Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 231.
Can you rocker Romanie
Can you patter flash,
Can you rocker Romanie
Can you fake a bosh.
Boshing, subs. (American thieves’).—A flogging. [Apparently a corrupted
form of bashing.]—See Bash.
Boshy, adj. (common).—Trumpery; nonsensical.—See Bosh.
1882. F. Anstey, Vice Versâ, ch. iv. ‘There was no dancing, only
boshy games and a conjuror.’
Bos-Ken, subs. (vagrants’).—A farmhouse. An old canting term. [From L.
bos = ox + ken, a house.] Cf., Ken.
1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 472. ‘Up
at a bosken (farm-house) they’ll get among the servant girls.’
Boskiness, subs. (popular).—The quality of being fuddled with drink;
bemused; a state of drunkenness.
1887. Judy, 31 August, p. 101. The Town Councillor had a squabble
with his parent ... and accused him of boskiness.
Bosky, adj. (popular).—Drunk; tipsy; fuddled. [Derivation uncertain;
bosky = ‘wooded,’ or ‘bushy,’ and there may be an allusion to the
obscurity and overshadowing, peculiar to a wooded country. Bailey
[1728] has also bosky = swelled, but does not give the slang sense of
the word, although it appears in the editions 1730–6. It may,
therefore, be a figuratively humorous reading of ‘swelled,’ i.e.,
‘tight.’] For synonyms, see Screwed.
1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.). Bosky (a.), fuddled, half or
quite drunk.
1824. Blackw. Mag., XVI., 573. He may be tipsy, bosky, cut, or
anything but drunk.
1886. Punch, 17 April, p. 185. I got a bit bosky last night. Has
the ’eadache got into my rhymes?
Bosman, subs. (vagrants’).—A farmer. [From the Dutch bosch-man, one who
lives in the woods; otherwise Boschje-man, or bushman.] Cf., Bosken.
1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 471.
‘I’ve seen the swell bosmen (farmers) buy the pills to give the
people standing about.’
Boss, subs. (American and English).—1. A master; a head man; one who
directs. [From the Dutch baas, a master.] Few words have acquired a
greater hold on American life than this term, and the primitive meaning
of master, overseer, or superior of any kind, though in a large measure
retained to this day, has been widened out in every direction. The
political boss is the leader whose word is law to his henchman. Boss
Tweed, of New York, is believed to have been the first to bear the
title in a semi-official way. The phrase boss rule is said to have been
invented by Mr. Wayne MacVeagh, and employed by him in political
speeches in Chicago. It is now in common use in this sense. In the two
first quotations the word appears to be used much as in the modern
sense. For synonyms, see Governor.
1590. Marlowe, Tamburlaine, pt. I., Act iii., Sc. 3. Zab. Base
concubine, must thou be placed by me, That am the empress of the
mighty Turk? Zen. Disdainful Turkess and unreverend boss!
1679. M. Philipse, Early Voyage to New Netherlands (quoted by De
Vere). Here they had their first interview with the female boss or
supercargo of the vessel.
1848. Bartlett, Americanisms. I have never known a second wife but
what was boss of the situation.
1850. New York Herald, May 24. The Eternal City is in a very
curious position. The Pope has returned to his ancestral home; but
he has nothing in his pocket, and Rothschild refuses to let him
have any more money. A thousand years ago, and the boot would have
been on t’other leg.... To-day it is very different. The Father of
Holiness is the dependent of the Jew, and Rothschild is the real
Pope and boss of all Europe.
1888. New York Herald, Jan. 12. Alderman Campbell—I move an
amendment to make Hamline the general superintendent and chief boss
of this whole gas business.
2. (popular.)—A short-sighted person; also one who squints. Cf.,
Boss-eyed and Boss, verb, sense 2.