Forms: 4 boi, boiȝe, bay, 4–7 boye, 5 bey, 6 boie, 4– boy. [ME. boi, boy, of obscure origin: app. identical with E.Frisian boi, boy ‘young gentleman’; considered by many to be identical with Du. boef (būf) ‘knave,’ MDu. boeve, prob. (according to Franck) adopted from MHG. buobe (in mod.G. bube ‘knave,’ dial. ‘boy, lad’).
It has been proposed to explain bo-y as dim. of bo, and this short for *bobo the W.Ger. type of buobe, bube. The latter is actually found in MHG. only from about the 14th c. Its Teutonic standing is doubtful: see Grimm, Schade, Kluge. The original sense being uncertain, the order of senses here observed is only provisional.]
1. A male child below the age of puberty. But commonly applied to all lads still at school, as such; and parents or sisters often continue to speak of their grown-up sons or brothers as ‘the boys.’
c. 1300. Beket, 88. Ȝunge childerne and wylde boyes also … scornede hire.
a. 1400[?]. Morte Arth., 3123. Boyes in þe subarbis bourdene ffulle heghe.
c. 1440. York Myst., xix. 270. So may þat boy be fledde.
1535. Coverdale, Zech. viii. 5. The stretes of the citie shalbe full of yonge boyes and damselles [1382 Wyclif infauntes and maydens; 1388 yonge children and maidens; 1611 boyes and girles].
1538. Bale, Thre Lawes, 966. Come, axe me blessynge, lyke praty boyes apace.
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., IV. i. 122. When King Pippin of France was a little boy.
1653. Walton, Angler, 46. The very boyes will learn to talk and swear.
1752. Johnson, Rambl., No. 198, ¶ 3. The sailor hated to see tall boys shut up in a school.
1812. Byron, Ch. Har., II. xxiii. Ah! happy years! once more who would not be a boy?
1844. A. B. Welby, Poems (1867), 97. A noble sturdy boy is he, and yet he’s only five.
Prov. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
2. Applied playfully, affectionately, or slightingly, to a young man, or one treated as such.
c. 1320. Seuyn Sages (W.), 1351. Was nowt the boi of wit bereued.
c. 1440. York Myst., xxix. 89. Sir Knyghtis, do kepe þis boy [Peter] in bande. Ibid., xi. 247. Þis boyes [Moses and Aaron] sall byde here in oure bayle.
1580. North, Plutarch, 42 (R.). This boy who was made overseer of them was commonly twenty years of age.
1592. Shaks., Rom. & Jul., III. i. 135. Thou wretched Boy that didst consort him here, Shalt with him hence. Ibid. (1599), Much Ado, V. i. 79. If thou kilst me, boy, thou shalt kill a man.
1722. Daily Post, 19 March. He is a fat, chubby boy, aged about 20 or thereabouts.
a. 1791. Wesley, Serm., lxxxiii. Wks. 1811, IX. 434. Every one has his hobby-horse! Something that pleases the great boy for a few hours.
b. Used instead of ‘man’ in certain localities: e.g., in Cornwall, in Ireland, in the far West of the United States.
1730. Swift, Dick’s Var., Wks. 1755, IV. I. 264. Let the boy’s pelt hin if they dare.
18[?]. Song, ‘St. Patrick was a gentleman.’ No wonder that our Irish boys should be so free and frisky!
1867. Hepworth Dixon, New America, i. These Western boys (every man living beyond the Missouri is a Boy, just as every woman is a Lady).
1880. W. Cornwall Gloss. (E. D. S.), s.v., There are no mnen in Cornwall; they are all Cornish boys.
† 3. A servant, slave. Obs. Now only when a boy in sense 1 or 2.
c. 1350. Will. Palerne, 1705. Sche … borwed boiȝes cloþes & bogeysliche as a boye · busked to þe kychene.
c. 1430. Lydg., Bochas, II. v. 46 b. With his sweorde, but she [Lucretia] would assent Her and a boye he would prent I-fere.
1535. Coverdale, 1 Sam. ii. 13. The prestes boye came, whyle the flesh was seething.
1588. T. L., To Ch. of Rome (1651), 9. By David his Boy, whom his heart approved.
1601. F. Tate, Househ. Ord. Edw. II., § 94 (1876), 56. That none of the kings meignee … charetter or sompter boy … keepe his wife at the court.
1764. T. Jefferson, Corr., Wks. 1859, I. 190. You mention one [letter] you wrote last Friday, and sent by the Secretary’s boy.
Mod. The doctor’s boy, sir!
† b. A camp-follower. Obs.
1599. Shaks., Hen. V., IV. iv. 82. The French might haue a good pray of vs, if he knew of it, for there is none to guard it [the luggage] but boyes. Ibid., IV. vii. 1. Kill the poyes and the luggage, ’Tis expressely against the Law of Armes.
c. ‘In Southern India and in China a native personal servant is so termed, and is habitually summoned with the vocative ‘Boy!’ (Yule). Also applied to male negro slaves of any age; in the South Seas to Polynesians kidnapped in ‘the labor trade.’
1609. Hawkins, in Purchas, Pilgr., 21. My boy Stephen Grovenor.
1681. R. Knox, Hist. Ceylon, 124. We had a black boy my Father brought from Porta Nova to attend upon him.
1850. Mrs. Stowe, Uncle Tom’s C., xxx. ‘Now up with you, boy! d’ye hear?’ said the auctioneer to Tom.
1875. Thomson, Malacca, 228. A faithful servant or boy, as they are here called, about forty years of age.
1884. Pall Mall Gaz., 16 Aug., 1/2. The vessel is granted a licence to carry so many ‘boys,’ as the native men are called.
d. In combination with other words, as LINK-BOY, POST-BOY, POT-BOY.
† 4. As a term of contempt: Knave, varlet, rogue, wretch, caitiff. Obs. [In early quotations, not always to be distinguished from BOIE, executioner.]
c. 1300. K. Alis., 4376. He … threow him over arsun; And saide, ‘ly ther vyle bay!’
c. 1325. E. E. Allit. P., A. 805. In Iherusalem watz my lemman slayn & rent on rode with boyez bolde.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 29/1. Bey or boy, scurrus.
1562. Bulleyn, Bk. Simples, 76 a. Through a very vile coward or boie, often the valiaunt man is slaine.
1588. Marprel. Epist. (Arb.), 28. Calling him boy, knaue, varlet, slanderer.
1607. Shaks., Cor., V. vi. 101, 104, 117.
5. Used in familiar address, often with the epithets ‘my,’ ‘old.’ Hence To old-boy vb.
1601. Shaks., Twel. N., II. iv. 122. But di’de thy sister of her loue my Boy? Ibid. (1620), Temp., II. ii. 56. To sea, boys, and let her goe hang.
1712. Arbuthnot, John Bull (1727), 79. Fear not, old boy: we’ll do it, I’ll warrant thee.
1742. Richardson, Pamela, III. 380. Never fear, old Boy, said Sir Charles, we’ll bear our Parts in Conversation.
1878. Miss Broughton, Cometh up as Fl. xv. 163. Old boy’ing each other.
6. In various connections, indicating a member of fraternity or band, as in Peep of Day Boys, a secret organization in Ireland; Roaring Boys, riotous fellows of the time of Elizabeth and James I.; also The old boy, the devil; Yellow boys, guineas.
c. 1590. Greene, Tu Quoque, in Dodsley, VII. 25 (N.). This is no angry, nor no roaring boy, but a blustering boy.
1609. B. Jonson, Epicœne, I. iv. (N.). The doubtfulness of your phrase … would breed you a quarrel once an hour with the terrible boys.
1659. Leg. Capt. Jones (Halliw.). In hope to get such roaring boys as he.
1712. Whig & Tory, iii. 34. He [Sacheverell] had Meat, and Drink, and yellow Boys.
1837–40. Haliburton, Clockm. (1862), 140. As we invigorate the form of government (as we must do, or go to the old boy).
1831. Carlyle, Sart. Res., III. x. 331. In Ireland … Ribbonmen, Cottiers, Peep-of-Day Boys.
7. Comb. (in which ‘boy’ often approaches the force of an adjective); a. appositive, indicating sex, as boy-angel, -baby, -brood, -child, -cousin, -elephant; or immaturity, as boy-actor, -bridegroom, -crusader, -ensign, -God, -husband, -king, -lover, -man, -officer, -poet, -spouse; or with words added which indicate the assumption of another personality, as in boy-girl, -harlot, -wench; also boy-bishop, the boy elected by his fellows to play the part of bishop from St. Nicholas’ Day to Innocents’ Day; b. attributive (of or pertaining to boys), as boy-kind, -nature; c. obj. gen. with vbl. sb., as boy-queller. Also boy-blind a., blind as a boy; boy-rid a., overdone with boys (after the analogy of BED-RID); boy-storied a. that of which stories are told by boys; boy-like adv. and adj.
1861. A. K. H. B., Recreat. Country Parson, Ser. II. 69. The popularity of the *boy-actor Betty.
1762–71. H. Walpole, Vertue’s Anecd. Painting, V. 35. Six *boy-angels playing on musical instruments.
1820. Scott, Abbot, xiv. To give place to … the *Boy-Bishop, and the Abbot of Unreason.
a. 1625. Fletcher, Love’s Pilgr. (L.). Put case he could be so *boy-blind and foolish.
1863. M. L. Whately, Ragged Life Egypt, viii. 63. The parents gave way, perhaps aided by the indifference of the *boy-bridegroom.
1879. Browning, Ivan Ivanov., 138. Poor Stiopka … first Of my *boy-brood.
1601. Holland, Pliny, II. 301. The haire of yong *boy-children … is held to be a singular remedy for … the gout.
1878. Black, Green Past., ii. 10. As her *boy cousin had said she was a trifle serious.
1886. Q. Rev., April, 529. A fault … which the *boy-ensigns and pages … shared with their parents.
1816. Byron, Siege Cor., xxx. We kneeling see Her and the *boy-God on her knee.
1570. Drant, Serm., in Dibdin, Libr. Comp., 76. This Romish Church defendeth … concubines, and *boy-harlots.
1876. M. Collins, Blacksmith & Schol., I. vi. 157. She held herself haughtily aloof from the mankind and *boykind of New Bratton.
1864. Pusey, Lect. Daniel, iii. 152. A *boy-king … is restored at once … by his own people.
1850. Mrs. Stowe, Uncle Tom’s C., ix. 73. Two boys, who, *boy-like, had followed close on her heels.
1865. Tylor, Early Hist. Man., xii. 337. The *boy-man laughed to himself, but said nothing.
1876. Hamerton, Intell. Life, X. x. 391. The necessities of the *boy-nature.
1762. Wesley, Jrnl., 13 June (1827), III. 93. Two or three *boy-officers.
1883. S. Waddington, Clough, 46. These indicate … the feelings and tendencies of the *boy-poet at this early age.
1606. Shaks., Tr. & Cr., V. v. 45. Come, come, thou *boy-queller, shew thy face.
1823. Lamb, Elia (1860), 82. He is *boy-rid, sick of perpetual boy.
1848. Kingsley, Saints’ Trag., Notes 245. The princess was laid in the cradle of her *boy-spouse.
1876. L. Hunt, Rimini., II. 235. *Boy-storied trees, and love remember’d spots.
1586. Warner, Alb. Eng., II. xi. 51. Not so much as by the tongue the *Boy wench was bewraid.
