Definition of "boy"

Bye or boye: Bostio.

1440, Promptorium Parvulorum, section 35

The stretes of the citie shalbe full of yonge boyes and damselles...

1535, Bible (Coverdale), Zechariah, Chapter VIII, Verse 5

I find I was mistaken in the sex, 'tis a boy.

1711 March 7, Jonathan Swift, Journal, line 208

Ah! happy years! once more who would not be a boy?

1812, Lord Byron, Childe Harold, Canto II, xxiii, 72

My only boy fell by the side of great Dundee.

1805, Walter Scott, “(please specify the page)”, in The Lay of the Last Minstrel: A Poem, London: […] [James Ballantyne] for Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, […], and A[rchibald] Constable and Co., […]

Dost thou call me fool, boy?

c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene iv]

He allowed his ‘boy’ - an overfed young negro from the coast - to treat the white men, under his very eyes, with provoking insolence.

1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], part I, page 211

‘Why does he go out and pinch all his dogs in person? He's an administrator, isn't he? Wouldn't he hire a boy or something?’‘We call them “staff”,’ Roger replies.

1973, Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow, i, 37

A Hottentot... expects to be called by his name if addressed by any one who knows it; and by those to whom it is not known he expects to be called Hottentot... or boy.

1812, Anne Plumptre translating Hinrich Lichtenstein, Travels in Southern Africa, in the Years 1803, 1804, 1805, and 1806, Vol. I, i, viii, 119

Every darky, however old, is a boy.

1888, Louis Diston Powles, Land of Pink Pearl, or Recollections of Life in the Bahamas, section 66

[In Alabama,] Guards still use the term ‘boy’ to refer to Black prisoners.

1973 September 8, Black Panther, 7/2

BN: [repeating a catchphrase] I like the boy.MA: [to hostile audience] Hold it, hold it, hold it. Easy. Did you say ‘Roy’ or ‘boy’?BN: ‘I like the boy’. There's nothing wrong with saying that... Hang on, hang on, hang on... I'll change religion, I'll do anything for ya, I don't bloody care... What's wrong with saying that? ‘I like the boy’?MA: Boy...BN: I mean, I like the man. I'm sorry, Muhammad.

1979, Bert Newton, Mohammed Ali, The Logie Awards‎

Wounded... 1 Boy, 1st class, severely.

1841 May 6, Times, London, 5/4

He joined the Navy as a boy second class in 1898.

1963 April 30, Times, London, 16/2

[…] drove by a corner, saw what I thought—no, what I knew—were dealers and asked if they knew where I could get some boy.

2021, Tim Weber, Heroin: the Ripple Effect

Are there “boy” trees and “girl” trees? Yes. A number of species, among them the yew, holly and date-bearing palm, have their male and female flowers on different trees. The male holly, for instance, must be planted fairly close to the female ...

1950, Pageant

Of the 100 percent total, 25 will have two girl genes, 50 will have one boy and one girl gene, and 25 will have two boy genes.

1970 , Helen V. Wilson, Helen Van Pelt, Helen Van Pelt's African Violets, Dutton Adult

Time is running out, so I renounce a spin on a Class 387 for a fast run to Paddington on another Class 800 - a shame as the weather was perfect for pictures. Even so, it's enjoyable - boy, can those trains shift under the wires.

2020 December 2, Paul Bigland, “My weirdest and wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail, page 68

I shall see some squeaking Cleopatra boy my greatness.

c. 1606–1607, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act V, scene ii]