bossy

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈbɔsi/
• (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /ˈbɑsi/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈbɒsi/, /ˈbɒsɪ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒsi, -ɔːsi

Etymology 1

From 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

Derived terms

• bossily
• bossiness
• bossyboots
• bossy pants
• bossy r
• overbossy

 

Translations

tending to give orders to others

• Arabic: مُتَسَلِّط (mutasalliṭ)
• Catalan: manaire
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 愛發號施令的／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)
• Hungarian: dirigál (hu) (a verb; this sense is more common as such)
• Irish: tiarnúil
• Manx: mainshtyragh
• Maori: tonotono
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: sjefete

• Plautdietsch: baussich
• Polish: rządzący się m, władczy (pl) m, apodyktyczny (pl) m
• Portuguese: mandão m
• Romanian: poruncitor (ro) m, autoritar (ro) m
• Russian: лю́бящий кома́ндовать (ljúbjaščij komándovatʹ), вла́стный (ru) (vlástnyj)
• Sicilian: cumanneru
• Spanish: mandón
• Welsh: trahaus (cy)

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.
   • 1903 February, O. Henry [pseudonym; William Sydney Porter], “Hygeia at the Solito”, in Everybody’s Magazine, volume VIII, number 2, New York, N.Y.: John Wanamaker, →ISSN, page 174, column 1:

     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

From boss +‎ -y.

Adjective

bossy (comparative more bossy, superlative most bossy)

1. Ornamented with bosses; studded.

Anagrams

• sybos

Lower Sorbian

Adjective

bossy

1. Obsolete spelling of bósy.