Bossy Latin

Bossy Latin
https://www.etymonline.com/word/bossy
Etymology of bossy by etymonline
Harper, D. (n.d.). Etymology of bossy. Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved October 14, 2022, from https://www.etymonline.com/word/bossy
Harper Douglas, “Etymology of bossy,” Online Etymology Dictionary, accessed October 14, 2022, https://www.etymonline.com/word/bossy.
Harper, Douglas. “Etymology of bossy.” Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com/word/bossy. Accessed 14 October, 2022.
D. Harper. “Etymology of bossy.” Online Etymology Dictionary. https://www.etymonline.com/word/bossy (accessed October 14, 2022).
offensively self-assured or given to exercising usually unwarranted power ;
a bossy way of ordering others around
Synonyms: autocratic / dominating / high-and-mighty / magisterial / peremptory
Etymologies are not definitions. From wordnet.princeton.edu, not affiliated with etymonline.
1540s, "swelling, projecting and rounded, decorated with bosses" from boss (n.2). Meaning "domineering, fond of ordering people about" is recorded 1882, from boss (n.1) + -y (2). As a common cow name (by 1844) it represents Latin bos "cow" (from PIE root *gwou- "ox, bull, cow"). Related: Bossily ; bossiness .

definitions

editorial

synonyms

Redefine your inbox with Dictionary.com!

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
The term bossy , as in “given to ordering people about,” is one of three homonyms, words that are spelled the same but mean different things and are etymologically unrelated. Approximately three centuries before the aforementioned bossy emerged, people were using this term to mean “swollen like a protuberance.” In the mid-1800s, people began using it as a familiar name for a cow or calf. The bovine bossy is a diminutive form of boss , which came to English about 50 years earlier as a term for addressing a cow and was used to refer to the American bison. The Latin bos translates to “ox.”
Bossy emerged as a colloquialism in the United States in the late-1800s. The earliest citation on record in the Oxford English Dictionary is from a piece of didactic fiction titled “Among the Rose Roots” that appeared in an 1882 issue of Harper’s Magazine , one of the oldest monthly magazines in the US. The author of this piece was bylined as “A-Working Girl,” and the full sentence reads: “It was in some big institute where there are soldiers’ orphans, and there was a lady manager who was dreadfully bossy, and when Miss Nettie was done teaching the lady thought she ought to spend her evenings at work in the sewing room.”
The domineering bossy is derived from the word boss , as in “a person who employs or superintends workers” or “a person who exercises authority.” Boss can be traced back to the Dutch word for “master,” baas , a term which also used to mean “uncle.” Some etymologists link this term, which carries masculine associations, to the Old High German word for “aunt,” basa .
Bossy ‘s root word boss gained popularity in the US because it was more egalitarian in spirit than its Old World equivalent, master , which implied a relationship of subservience. The term was also used in distinguishing slave labor versus labor entered into of one’s own volition according to 19th-century historian and linguist John Russell Bartlett (pictured).
Bossy is not the only adjective derived from boss , though it has picked up more negative associations than its etymological cousin. In the mid-1800s, a little before bossy came to mean “domineering,” people began using boss to indicate mastery or esteem, as in “I am a boss shoemaker,” an OED citation from 1836. This sense evolved and boss became a popular slang term meaning “first-rate,” as in “Martina Twain is a real boss chick,” a line from Martin Amis’s 1984 novel, Money .

This shows grade level based on the word's complexity.
/ ˈbɔ si, ˈbɒs i / PHONETIC RESPELLING
This shows grade level based on the word's complexity.
adjective, boss·i·er, boss·i·est.
given to ordering people about; overly authoritative; domineering .
SHALL WE PLAY A "SHALL" VS. "SHOULD" CHALLENGE?
Should you take this quiz on “shall” versus “should”? It should prove to be a quick challenge!
Which form is commonly used with other verbs to express intention?
An Americanism dating back to 1880–85; boss 1 + -y 1
OTHER WORDS FROM bossy boss·i·ly, adverb boss·i·ness, noun
/ ˈbɔ si, ˈbɒs i / PHONETIC RESPELLING
adjective, boss·i·er, boss·i·est.
studded with knoblike or projecting parts.
First recorded in 1535–45; boss 2 + -y 1
/ ˈbɒs i, ˈbɔ si / PHONETIC RESPELLING
An Americanism dating back to 1835–45; boss 3 + -y 2
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022
informal domineering, overbearing, or authoritarian
Derived forms of bossy bossily , adverb bossiness , noun
(of furniture) ornamented with bosses
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Granted, they had some hiccups in the eight weeks — she could be interpreted as “ bossy ” at times and he allowed himself to get in quite the mood when he felt embarrassed — they were all in and genuinely in love.
Women often are mischaracterized as over-opinionated or bossy , but Debbie saw my ideas as just that — as creativity, and as ideas, and as passion.
I realized just how bossy I am as a parent, when my daughter and I visited Hadzabe families in Tanzania.
Yet, if she leans the other way, conforming to more “masculine” traits, like toughness or assertiveness, she is likely to be seen as abrasive, bossy —or worse.
While Facebook COO and Lean In guru Sheryl Sandberg urged teachers to “ban bossy ,” they embrace the label “boss” wholeheartedly.
And women have much bigger fish to fry than banning the word “ bossy .”
I now see how loaded “ bossy ” is with gender biases and expectations.
By turns bossy , blustery, and self-deprecating, Frida insinuates herself into every aspect of the place.
Beautiful, brainy, and bossy —on the surface, Gu Kailai was a new breed of Politburo wife.
We are getting on very well, though I think Joanna is too bossy , and mammy is nearly as bad.
Mac stayed on guard at the fence while I took our potato pail and went over to make the acquaintance of Bossy .
Bossy attained considerable reputation, and ended his days with a fair competence.
If I was a little girl about your age, I never should get tired of looking at that speckled bossy out in the barn.
I almost wished she had to be fastened into the stall a while, just to see if she wouldn't get tired of that speckled bossy .

“a
bossy way of ordering others around”

Express yourself in 25 languages

Learn immersively - no memorization required
Build skills for real-world conversations
Get immediate feedback on your pronunciation

Get started for $7.99/month

Sign up now (it’s free!)
Whether you’re a teacher or a learner, Vocabulary.com can put you or your class on the path to systematic vocabulary improvement.
Get started

Our Story

Our Mission
Team / Jobs
Partnerships

Someone who's bossy has a tendency to order other people around. Your bossy friend might tell you what clothes you should wear on your date as well as which restaurant you ought to eat at.
Bossy people enjoy telling you what to do. Your bossy roommate might instruct you to clean the kitchen immediately, and a bossy kid could happily spend an afternoon ordering his babysitter to push him on a swing. While the 16th century meaning was "swelling and rounded, decorated with buttons," by the late 1800s bossy meant "domineering," from the Dutch baas , or "master." It's also a popular name for a cow, from the Latin bos , "cow."

Making educational experiences better for everyone.

Comprehensive K-12 personalized learning
Immersive learning for 25 languages
35,000 worksheets, games, and lesson plans
Spanish-English dictionary, translator, and learning

Copyright © 2022 Vocabulary.com, Inc., a division of IXL Learning •
All Rights Reserved.

Making educational experiences better for everyone.

Comprehensive K-12 personalized learning
Immersive learning for 25 languages
35,000 worksheets, games, and lesson plans
Spanish-English dictionary, translator, and learning

Copyright © 2022 Vocabulary.com, Inc., a division of IXL Learning •
All Rights Reserved.

Fuck Short Hair Girl
Vintage French Milf
High Heels For Me

Bossy Latin

Report Page