overboss

English

Etymology

From over- +‎ boss.

Noun

overboss (plural overbosses)

1. A boss of underbosses in a criminal organization.
   • 1991, William Balsamo, George Carpozi, Crime Incorporated Or Under the Clock, →ISBN:

     But Buscetta neglected to inform his overboss about his extracurricular activity in crime.

   • 2004, Steven Barnes, The Hive, page 89:

     Five years later Trillot had proven his worth to a local Tenloss syndicate, and two years after that he resigned from Cestus Cybernetics to work directly for the overboss himself.

   • 2017, Alastair Macleod, Illegal, →ISBN:

     His overboss was constantly on his back checking, making sure the money was coming in. Costa owed his overboss €50,000, the price for protection and safe transit to the UK.

Verb

overboss (third-person singular simple present overbosses, present participle overbossing, simple past and past participle overbossed)

1. To micromanage.
   • 1953, Rhoda Kellogg, Babies need fathers, too, page 191:

     Those who refuse to take responsibility argue that what ails people is that they are, or have been, overbossed, and not left enough on their own to develop their natural good nature.

   • 1975, Helen S. Astin, Allison Parelman, Anne E. Fisher, Sex Roles: A Research Bibliography, page 252:

     Both nursing and nonnursing students viewed nurses as respected and hardworking; however, more of the nonnursing than nursing students considered nurses to be overbossed and to have little chance for advancement or independent thinking.

   • 2006, Mary Edwards Wertsch, Military Brats: Legacies of Childhood Inside the Fortress, →ISBN:

     Either they‟re overbossed or underbossed. Either the father tells them when to breathe, or he ignores them.