bossy

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɔsi/
• IPA^(key): /ˈbɑsi/
• IPA^(key): /ˈbɒsi/, /ˈbɒsɪ/
• Rhymes: -ɒsi, -ɔːsi

Etymology 1

boss +‎ -y

Adjective

bossy (comparative bossier, superlative bossiest)

1. Tending to give orders to others, especially when unwarranted; domineering.
   • 1994, Jackie Collins, Hollywood Kids:

     Over in the wardrobe department a bossy woman in ill-fitting dungarees tried to talk her into wearing a short red low-cut dress for the test.

   • 2019, Fancy Feast, “On Being a Fetish”, in Jewish Currents‎^[1], number Summer 2019:

     Where American Jewish men contend with stereotypes of being oversexed, needy, nebbishy and neurotic (like Woody Allen, boo hiss), Jewish women are cast as withholding, bossy, exotic, and materialistic (like Fran Drescher, which honestly? Goals).

Synonyms

• dictatorial, authoritarian, commanding, tyrannical, demanding, inflexible
• see also Thesaurus:bossy

Translations

tending to give orders to others

• Catalan: manaire
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 愛發號施令的／爱发号施令的, 爱发号施令的 (ài fāhàoshīlìng de), 跋扈 (zh) (báhù)

• Czech: panovačný m
• Dutch: bazig (nl)
• Finnish: komenteleva
• French: autoritaire (fr)
• German: herrisch (de), rechthaberisch (de), autoritär (de), diktatorisch (de), herrschsüchtig (de)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Manx: mainshtyragh
• Maori: tonotono
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: sjefete

• Polish: rządzący się m, władczy (pl) m, apodyktyczny (pl) m
• Portuguese: mandão m
• Russian: лю́бящий кома́ндовать (ljúbjaščij komándovatʹ), вла́стный (ru) (vlástnyj)
• Spanish: mandón

Etymology 2

Diminutive of dialectal English boss, as used in the term boss-calf (which, like buss-calf, is a variant form of boose-calf, a calf kept in a boose (“stall”)).

Noun

bossy (plural bossies)

1. (US, informal, dated) A cow or calf.
   • about 1900, O. Henry, Hygeia at the Solito

     A week before, while riding the prairies, Raidler had come upon a sick and weakling calf deserted and bawling. Without dismounting he had reached and slung the distressed bossy across his saddle, and dropped it at the ranch for the boys to attend to.

Etymology 3

boss +‎ -y

Adjective

bossy (comparative more bossy, superlative most bossy)

1. Ornamented with bosses; studded.

Anagrams

• sybos

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Lower Sorbian

Adjective

bossy

1. Obsolete spelling of bósy.