Boss

subs. (common).—1.  A master; a head man; one who directs. Dutch baas = a master. Whence BOSSING = acting as a boss; BOSSISM = a system of management or wire-pulling; BOSSY = pertaining to the qualities of a leader.

  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, Dictionary of Americanisms. I have never known a second wife but what was BOSS of the situation.

  1850.  New York Herald, May 24. The Father of Holiness is the dependent of the Jew, and Rothschild is the real Pope and BOSS of all Europe.

  1856.  National Intelligencer, 3 Nov. ‘Well, squire,’ said he, ‘the little fellow that sits up in the pulpit, and kinder BOSSES it over the crowd, gin us a talk; but I don’t know whether he charged anything or not.’

  1859.  H. KINGSLEY, Recollections of Geoffry Hamlyn, xxiii. ‘So, BOSS,’ began the ruffian, not looking at him, ‘we ain’t fit company for the likes of that kinchin, eh?’

  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.

  1901.  Free Lance, 27 April, 75, 1. Our tight little island does not often produce railway BOSSES of the masterful American type.

  2.  (common).—A short-sighted person; a squinter; also BOSSER: cf. BOSS-EYED, and verb.

  3.  (common).—A miss; a blunder.

  4.  (old).—A term of contempt.

  1590.  MARLOWE, Tamburlaine the Great, I., iii., 3.

  1611.  COTGRAVE, Dictionarie, s.v. A fat BOSSE. Femme bien grasse et grosse; une Coche.

  Adj. (common).—Pleasant; first rate; chief.

  1884.  Echo, March 3, 1, 4. The Americans are acknowledged to be the BOSS artificers in wood.

  1888.  Brooklyn Daily Eagle, March 18. Take it all together, with scarcity of food and little sleep, we had a hard, but a BOSS time.

  Verb. (common).—1.  To manage; to direct; to control.

  1856.  National Intelligencer, Nov. 3. The little fellow that BOSSES it over the crowd.

  1872.  Athenæum, March 9. A child wishing to charge his sister with being the aggressor in a quarrel for which he was punished, exclaimed, ‘I did not BOSS the job; it was sister.’

  1883.  The Saturday Review, April 28, 515, 1. It is long since the more respectable inhabitants of America have been divided between the convenience of the Irish as hewers of wood and drawers of water, and as voters easily BOSSED or bribed, on the one hand, and the manifold nuisance of them on the other.

  1885.  The Sporting Times, 6 July. The Shah has fairly BOSSED everything this week—he has been chief actor in our social system.

  1888.  Texas Siftings, July.

  2.  (popular).—To miss aim; to make such a shot as a BOSS-EYED (q.v.) person would be expected to make. BOSS-SHOT = a shot failing of its mark.

  1887.  Notes and Queries, 7 S., iii., 236. To BOSS is schoolboy slang for ‘to miss.’