boy1 nounboy2 interjection
boyboy1 /bɔɪ/ ●●● S1 W1 noun [countable] 
WORD ORIGINboy1
Origin:
1200-1300 Perhaps from Frisian boi ‘boy’EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- Harry teaches in a boys' school in Glasgow.
- He put a hand on the boy's shoulder and walked with him down the hall.
- I used to live in Spain when I was a boy.
- My two boys are still in college.
- There are only five boys in the class.
- Why don't you go play with that little boy over there?
- A confrontation developed and the aggrieved boy decided to take the matter to the headmaster.
- At last, the morning came when Oliver was allowed to go out to work with the two other boys.
- Down the hall in a waiting room, volunteer Eula Gray finishes reading a story to a little boy.
- It is the stuff of ivory towers and only clever boys and girls are expected to reflect upon its themes.
- She looked at the boy now.
- The boys outpaced the girls in mechanical, verbal, and abstract reasoning, space relations, and numerical ability.
THESAURUS
an adult male human: · a young man· Sir Edmund Hillary was the first man to climb Mount Everest.
(also bloke/chap British English) informal a man: · She’d arranged to meet a guy in the bar.· Alex is a really nice bloke.
formal a man – used as a very polite way of talking about a man: · an elderly gentleman· Please could you serve this gentleman?
a young male person, usually a child or a teenager: · a teenage boy
old-fashioned informal a boy or young man: · When I was a young lad, I wanted to join the army.
a teenage boy or young man – used especially in news reports to show disapproval: · Gangs of youths roam the streets.
formal a man – used especially by the police or in science and research contexts. The adjective male is much more common than the noun: · We are investigating the death of an unidentified male.· The condition is usually found only in males.
American English informal a man – a very informal use: · You could tell there was something creepy going on with that dude.
Longman Language Activatora child a young person from the time they are born until they are aged about 14 or 15: · How many children are there in your class?· Children under 14 travel free.· Every child was given a present.as a child: · As a child, she preferred playing football with the boys to playing with dolls.child prodigy (=a child who is extremely good at doing something, for example playing music or speaking languages, from a very young age ): · While growing up in North Carolina, Amos was considered a child prodigy on the piano.child development (=the way a child grows and learns new skills): · After her first baby was born, Barb read child development books constantly.child care (=when someone looks after children while their parents work): · The state will provide child care when both parents participate in the training program.child abuse (=cruel or violent treatment of children by adults): · Nationwide, only one in four cases of child abuse and neglect is reported.
informal a child: · Jamie's a bright kid.· I really enjoy working with kids.· When we were kids, we used to spend practically the whole summer outdoors.just a kid: · Don't be so hard on him - he's just a kid.
a male child: · I used to live in Spain when I was a boy.· Harry teaches in a boys' school in Glasgow.· He put a hand on the boy's shoulder and walked with him down the hall.little boy (=a very young boy): · Why don't you go play with that little boy over there?
a female child: · What's that girl's name?· More girls play sports now than when I was younger.· Beth is one of the most popular girls in her class.little girl (=a very young girl): · A little girl was sitting on the front doorstep.
a very young child who has just learned to walk: · As a toddler, he was attacked and injured by the family's pet dog.· A toddler was squatting in the middle of the carpet, thumb in mouth.
someone's son or daughter someone's son or daughter, of any age: · She named her first child Katrin.· One of her children lives in Australia now.· The house seems very quiet now that all the children have left home.an only child (=a child that has no brothers or sisters): · Alexandra was an only child and the centre of her mother's world.
informal someone's son or daughter - use this about children aged up to 14 or 15: · All I ever wanted was to get married and have kids.· Could you look after the kids this evening?
someone's male child: · We have two teenage sons.· Her son used to work in Texas.· The family business has now been taken over by Anderson's eldest son.
someone's female child: · Our youngest daughter is getting married next month.· My aunt has five daughters and three sons.· In traditional societies, parents were often reluctant to send their daughters to school.
spoken someone's young son or daughter: · Paula had to go home - her little girl's sick.· "How old's your little boy?" "He's three."
a person's or animal's baby or babies - used humorously or in formal contexts about someone's children: somebody's offspring: · Parents with the disease are likely to pass it on to their offspring.· Hardly a day goes by without Mrs Molt or one of her offspring calling around to borrow something.
someone who is liked more than other people British /favorite American someone who is liked better, especially by someone in authority, than the others in a group, and who is often treated better: · Admit it, you were always Mom's favourite.· Of all my customers, Sherman was easily my favorite.
informal someone who is their teacher's favourite student, and who the other students do not like because of this: · By his own account, Huggins was a teacher's pet whose life revolved around his schoolwork.
British informal someone who is treated better than anyone else by their teacher, employer, parent etc, because they think he is perfect and do not notice his faults: · Tom Cruise is Hollywood's blue-eyed boy at the moment.
written the person who a group of people like most, for example a political party or people who write for a particular newspaper: · For some strange reason Livingstone became the darling of the right-wing press.
WORD SETSbaby, nounbaby boomer, nounbabyhood, nounbabyish, adjectiveboy, nounchildren's home, nouncustody, nounfamily, nounfirst generation, nounfoundling, noungame, nounguttersnipe, nounhyperactive, adjectivelegitimate, adjectivelegitimize, verbminor, nounminority, nounmite, nounmotherless, adjectivenurture, nounorphan, nounorphanage, nounpapoose, nounpreteen, adjectiveprogeny, nounpuppy fat, nounragamuffin, nounscamp, nounschool friend, nounsextuplet, nounspoiled, adjectivetinker, nountoddle, verbtoddler, nountoilet-training, nountot, nounupbringing, nounurchin, nounward, noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRY
A group of teenage boys stood talking in a group outside. ‘You naughty boy!’ she said in a harsh voice. What a polite little boy (=young male child) you are. Come on, Timmy, act like a big boy (=an older boy) now. How old is your little boy (=young son)? Friday is his night out with the boys. He considers himself just one of the boys (=not anyone special, but liked by other men).COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES a frat boy (=member of a fraternity) Both boys and girls can apply to join the choir. two little boys playing in the street a poor little orphan girl
A group of teenage boys stood talking in a group outside. ‘You naughty boy!’ she said in a harsh voice. What a polite little boy (=young male child) you are. Come on, Timmy, act like a big boy (=an older boy) now. How old is your little boy (=young son)? Friday is his night out with the boys. He considers himself just one of the boys (=not anyone special, but liked by other men).· She’s just had a lovely healthy baby girl.
(=the most powerful people or companies)
informal (=the person whose birthday it is)· Here comes the birthday girl!
(=someone who behaves in a violent way)
a frat boy (=member of a fraternity) Both boys and girls can apply to join the choir. two little boys playing in the street (=someone’s son or daughter who is still a child) Mum, I’m 17 – I’m not your little girl any longer.
Mum, I’m 17 – I’m not your little girl any longer.· Your son’s a lucky man, having a father like you.
British English (=the newest person in a job, organization etc – used humorously)
a poor little orphan girl (=becomes deep as he becomes a man)· His voice had only recently broken.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADJECTIVE· Poor Col. He wasn't a bad boy, just easily led.· As after all I was not a bad little boy but I was shy and covered it up by bravado.· Then old man Lawton goes missing and suspicion fixes on his son, Ronny, the local bad boy.· His bad boy always drove me to my vivacious good girl.· He always presented himself as the redeemed bad boy, but it was a lie, she says.· He is not a bad boy.· Another rehabilitated star admitting he was a bad boy.· Roberts' eyes widen, as if Gibson was the school bad boy and had just told off the principal.
· Bethlehem was a new record company in 1957 and gathered this huge gang together to show up the big boys.· Now it is the turn of some of those big boys to suffer.· He plays with the big boys and wants their respect.· United lit the fuse for a quality cup tie by giving everything they had against the big boys from the premier league.· Six of the biggest black-coated boys ran over, surrounding his car.· He wasn't a man, only a big, overgrown boy, and he looked quite crazy and terrifying.· Patricia Ireland, the pillbox hat-wearing, scotch-pouring servant, had taken on the big boys and come out ahead.
· The wooden black boy in the corner was identifiable by his white gloves in the gloom.· The black boy was down there telling Petey all his old secrets.· Errol: The teachers are for ever picking on the black boys.· The least black boy swung his head from side to side, turned, and ran for the door.· Along with rap artists and basketball players, these are the black men the black boys look up to.· Each stays on his own side of the day room the way the black boys want it.· The black boys move in with the flashlights.· All the black boys knew it.
· John's face, the dear boy.· I do not need it and will set it aside for you, my dear boy, to complete your studies.· It is all very agreeable but please, my dear boy, don't allow yourself to take it seriously.· I didn't want to send the dear little boy home alone.· I must have unnerved you, dear boy.
· From the very beginning, Tordella was the golden boy of the Puzzle Palace.· Ratner is not a fallen golden boy of the Thatcher era, nor a victim of his own jokes.· Terms such as thought leader, golden boy, or winner refer to people with a power base of reputation.· They are golden boys, about 17 or 18, and apparently weightless.· So golden boy had flipped - this week?· First full season for Formula One's new golden boy.· Gone in an instant was that jovial giant, that golden boy, that chestnut-haired youth whom everyone admired.
· Dope and cocaine have become accessible to the grips, the gaffers and the best boys.· But even marriage to a good old boy has not opened all arms to Fonda.· Four decades ago in Britain girls were getting better results than boys in the 11-plus exam.· But so happen, one little boy not so good.· Questions relating to counting and calculating with whole numbers are generally tackled by girls as well as or better than by boys.· Derek Jensen, best boy grip -- second unit; and Ronald Beale, chiropractor.· Who better than the guy everybody thought was just a good time boy?· This was where good boys came after they got killed by Rupert.
· He was always a horrid little boy for all his pretty face, and now he's a horrid man.· Except one little boy, who, though he had heard about the clothes, believed his eyes and not his ears.· The little boy was strong and he flourished.· Here is one of the stories: A little boy is playing in his room.· What the little boys remembered about his class was that he made divinity fun, even though it was before breakfast.· Seeing through the pretense, my little boy let go of my coat and walked on silently with downcast eyes.· After Madeleine left, Edouard spent more and more time with the little boy -every free moment.· She is followed closely by a little boy, who keeps ducking behind her whenever Yolanda smiles at him.
· A shower of gravel barely missed me, hurled by naughty boys who played among the ruins, ambushing one another.· In the later poets he was her son and almost invariably a mischievous, naughty boy, or worse.· He is always pleased to see his nursery teacher but is terrified that she will think he is a naughty boy.· Flat five: Beatrice, for naughty boys.· It appears the naughty boys were in the altogether just as a primary school field trip walked past.· Keith, hyperactive and aggressive, a naughty boy.· He was the town naughty boy all right, and it was incongruous that he should have been named Wesley.
· Gardner-Medwin proposed screening 18 month old boys who are not walking as an approach to the problem of delayed diagnosis.· Did sky and grass whirl together and breath grow short in that first encounter with the rough older boy?· Ballantyne's boys are about twenty five years old and the oldest boy in Golding's book is only just twelve.· Eric Hahn will replace Marc Andreessen, the 26-year-old wonder boy who helped to write the Mosaic browser.· He and Kasturbai, and sometimes the older boys, carried out the pots.· But they could have cost an 8 year old boy his life.· She stayed with them in the cottage and helped Benjamin during the day while the older boys hunted.
· I try to convince myself that it's conditioning, the poor boy and his fears of success.· A third close friend, Ed Prince, learned early that poor boys whose fathers die young could not succeed at business.· And there in the garden, a long way from the house, was that poor dead boy, my husband.· David Copperfield about a poor boy who is mistreated by people that was very sad.· This type of program would really score with poor reading football-mad boys.· The poor boys, innocent boys, the fragile flame of life snuffed out suddenly and so much candle left!· He was a poor boy from Scarborough, who went to Manchester.· For a moment, then, the pity Ahab feels for the poor crazed Negro boy nearly swerves him from his course.
· He admits he's just a small boy at heart.· My first year, out of all five hundred students I was the smallest boy.· The small boy ate ten griddle cakes and the man eight.· The small boy from the pier was led away by a gray-haired woman.· Some small boys come down the track towards me.· Perhaps he was looking for pictures in the clouds, as he had done as a small boy.· She had tales to tell of him as a small boy, as a young man.· He was a small boy sitting in the yard of their house.
· Two teenage boys were threatened with castration to force their Tesco manager father to take cash from his store safe.· They were joined by teenage boys who surged in waves from the neighboring Mir-i-Arab Madrasa, a religious school.· Men and teenage boys went fishing every day, usually in small groups.· The Harlem riot erupted when an off-duty policeman killed James Powell, a teenage boy who had allegedly attacked him.· She kisses lightly, licks around the tip, and he's proud like a teenage boy.· A strong teenage boy lost half his 140 pounds in seven weeks.· The only computers in many villages are those owned by the teenage boys of the affluent to play their wham-bam games.· Across the street, half a dozen teenage boys hunch over a broken bicycle.
· Two young boys, of around ten years of age, drawing closer, then parallel, now swiftly passing, past.· Last Sunday, a young boy was brought in.· More of the girls, who tended on average to be slightly younger than the boys, were still at school.· How many young boys grew up longing for such distinction?· The bodies of two young boys have been stitched back together in the mortuary of this place.· By the time Derek Dashwood first saw it as a young boy in 1952, it was falling into disrepair.· The day's most successful report is the interview with a young boy accused of stealing a leather jacket.· Man is so constructed that such isolation is too immense to conceive and the young cabin boy loses his rational faculties.
NOUN· Thankfully, the name has been shortened and the unfortunate baby boy goes by the moniker Iuma Dylan-Lucas.· Only 25, she has a 4-year-old daughter, twin baby boys and no husband.· Read in studio A baby boy narrowly escaped death when his pram was crushed between a car and a garden wall.· Helen and Jack got married too -- on James Joyce's birthday -- had a baby boy and moved to the Midwest.· The baby boy went blue after his lungs became blocked.· In Mashpee, two parents were indicted on charges of abuse that left their baby boy blind and brain damaged.· The result was a healthy, blue-eyed baby boy.· A young couple I know has just been blessed with a new baby boy.
PHRASES FROM THE ENTRY► old boy/my dear boyPHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES► the old-boy network► separate the men from the boys► a slip of a girl/boy etc► there’s a good boy/clever dog etc► all work and no play (makes Jack a dull boy)
1a male child, or a male person in general: - The press boys are going to love this story.
- We need to support our boys stationed overseas.
- Boys will be boys and in spite of warnings at least one fatal accident occurred involving local lads, and several were injured.
- Above: Boys will be boys.
- That, and a few water spouts, but then boys will be boys.
- I can tell you the boys in blue are pleased you've turned up.
- I could just as easily send the Boys in Blue.
- And he'd send messages back through his delivery boy!
- Even little office boys dressed as though they were running the country.
- He opened a flower shop but spends most of his time working as a delivery boy.
- One container held around thirty dollars in change and small bills, handy for tipping delivery boys, I suppose.
- Perhaps he had just been a delivery boy.
- Policeman, judge, delivery boy, priest, referee, commissionaire.
- The restaurant delivery boy rode skillfully up on his bike.
- For a local boy to come home, this is truly as good as it gets.
- Gary Boyce is a local boy who made it big.
- It was then that she noticed a tall blond man busy coaching some young local boys in football.
- Joseph must have been a country boy.
- Julie was a rich kid who loved to associate with the tougher, more daring local boys.
- Once a happy, handsome country boy, Inman has become hardened, cynical, burned out.
- They went wild with jubilation as they paid homage to the local boy who made President.
- I won't be home until late -- I'm going out for a drink with the boys.
- Ted's out playing cards with the boys.
- All the boys said they were also aware of the danger of getting a girl pregnant.
- But the fishing trip that hot night was something different and it was to frighten and distress the boys.
- He didn't have to get to know a new city like the boys from the country did.
- When his promises and threats failed, Antoninus had the boys sentenced to death in seven different courts.
- When Taylor asked some of the boys at Midvale to join him in the back country, all but William Fannon refused.
- There are of course differences between the 1930s and late twentieth-century interpretations of the glamour girl.
- She's Hollywood's current golden girl.
- Completing the trio of golden girls is Millicent Martin - it's a formidable combination.
- Even without mistakes, the halo effect eventually wears off when some one else emerges as the new golden girl.
- First full season for Formula One's new golden boy.
- From the very beginning, Tordella was the golden boy of the Puzzle Palace.
- Ratner is not a fallen golden boy of the Thatcher era, nor a victim of his own jokes.
- So golden boy had flipped - this week?
- Terms such as thought leader, golden boy, or winner refer to people with a power base of reputation.
- They are golden boys, about 17 or 18, and apparently weightless.
- Good boys, good boys, good boys.
- He's a good boy, and he's very strong.
- He coughed, told Oliver to dry his eyes and be a good boy, and walked on with him in silence.
- He had been a very good boy indeed.
- I am Pa's best boy.
- I tried to be a good girl and stay out of the way.
- Randolph worked his hardest, pulling away, while Santa delivered all the presents to the good boys and girls.
- This was where good boys came after they got killed by Rupert.
- It smacks of jobs for the boys.
- The hon. Gentleman is always talking about jobs for the boys.
- Dozens of men and boys take turns trading shots with him.
- In the first scene he showed how men and boys prepared for combat and self-defence.
- It seemed incredible; what would the Axis want with a bunch of small-town men and boys led by a band conductor?
- On 25 May, 1812, the Felling pit in Durham exploded, killing 92 men and boys.
- That was fine when manpower was cheap and farming was labour intensive, when families worked in the fields man and boy.
- The men and boys were lined up and marched off in one direction, and women and children in another.
- The twenty-six men and boys were martyred.
- These barbarians are young men and boys, in their teens and early twenties.
The boys wanted to play football. boys and girls aged 11–18a teenage/adolescent boy A group of teenage boys stood talking in a group outside.bad/naughty boy ‘You naughty boy!’ she said in a harsh voice. What a polite little boy (=young male child) you are. Come on, Timmy, act like a big boy (=an older boy) now.► see thesaurus at man2a son: I love my boys, but I’d like to have a girl, too. How old is your little boy (=young son)?3office/paper/delivery etc boy a young man who does a particular job4city/local/country boy informal a man of any age who is typical of people from a particular place, or who feels a strong connection with the place he grew up in: The classic story of a local boy who’s made good (=who has succeeded). I’m just a country boy.5the boys [plural] informal a group of men who are friends and often go out together: Friday is his night out with the boys. He considers himself just one of the boys (=not anyone special, but liked by other men).6a way of talking to a male horse or dog: Good boy!7 boys [plural] informal a)a group of men who do the same job: Oh no! Wait until the press boys get hold of this story. b)men in the army, navy etc, especially those who are fighting in a war: our boys on the front lines8boys will be boys used to say that you should not be surprised when boys or men behave badly, are noisy etc9the boys in blue informal the police10old boy/my dear boy British English old-fashioned a friendly way for one man to speak to another man11 American English not polite an offensive way of talking to a black man → blue-eyed boy, → jobs for the boys at job(16), → mama's boy, mummy's boy, old boy, wide boyboy1 nounboy2 interjection
boyboy2 interjection American English informal EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- Boy, that chicken was good!
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES a frat boy (=member of a fraternity) Both boys and girls can apply to join the choir. two little boys playing in the street a poor little orphan girl
· She’s just had a lovely healthy baby girl.
(=the most powerful people or companies)
informal (=the person whose birthday it is)· Here comes the birthday girl!
(=someone who behaves in a violent way)
a frat boy (=member of a fraternity) Both boys and girls can apply to join the choir. two little boys playing in the street (=someone’s son or daughter who is still a child) Mum, I’m 17 – I’m not your little girl any longer.
Mum, I’m 17 – I’m not your little girl any longer.· Your son’s a lucky man, having a father like you.
British English (=the newest person in a job, organization etc – used humorously)
a poor little orphan girl (=becomes deep as he becomes a man)· His voice had only recently broken.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES► the old-boy network► separate the men from the boys► a slip of a girl/boy etc► there’s a good boy/clever dog etc► all work and no play (makes Jack a dull boy)
1used when you are excited or pleased about something: - There are of course differences between the 1930s and late twentieth-century interpretations of the glamour girl.
- She's Hollywood's current golden girl.
- Completing the trio of golden girls is Millicent Martin - it's a formidable combination.
- Even without mistakes, the halo effect eventually wears off when some one else emerges as the new golden girl.
- First full season for Formula One's new golden boy.
- From the very beginning, Tordella was the golden boy of the Puzzle Palace.
- Ratner is not a fallen golden boy of the Thatcher era, nor a victim of his own jokes.
- So golden boy had flipped - this week?
- Terms such as thought leader, golden boy, or winner refer to people with a power base of reputation.
- They are golden boys, about 17 or 18, and apparently weightless.
- Good boys, good boys, good boys.
- He's a good boy, and he's very strong.
- He coughed, told Oliver to dry his eyes and be a good boy, and walked on with him in silence.
- He had been a very good boy indeed.
- I am Pa's best boy.
- I tried to be a good girl and stay out of the way.
- Randolph worked his hardest, pulling away, while Santa delivered all the presents to the good boys and girls.
- This was where good boys came after they got killed by Rupert.
- It smacks of jobs for the boys.
- The hon. Gentleman is always talking about jobs for the boys.
- Dozens of men and boys take turns trading shots with him.
- In the first scene he showed how men and boys prepared for combat and self-defence.
- It seemed incredible; what would the Axis want with a bunch of small-town men and boys led by a band conductor?
- On 25 May, 1812, the Felling pit in Durham exploded, killing 92 men and boys.
- That was fine when manpower was cheap and farming was labour intensive, when families worked in the fields man and boy.
- The men and boys were lined up and marched off in one direction, and women and children in another.
- The twenty-six men and boys were martyred.
- These barbarians are young men and boys, in their teens and early twenties.
Boy, that was a great meal!2oh boy! used when you are slightly annoyed or disappointed about something: Oh boy! Bethany’s sick again.- Lord of the Rings, The
- Lord Privy Seal
- Lord Protector
- Lords
- Lord's
- Lord's Day
- Lord's Day Observance Society
- lordship
- Lord's Prayer
- Lords Spiritual
- Lord's Supper
- Lords Temporal
- lore
- Loren, Sophia
- Lorna Doone
- lorry
- Los Alamos
- Los Angeles
- Los Angeles Lakers
- Los Angeles Symphony Orchestra
- Los Angeles Times, The
- lose
- loser
- Losey, Joseph
- loss