Klryz
Pronunciation guide: IPA symbols, stress and word endings

Vowels

iːseeɪsite / ɛbedæcat
ɑːfatherɒhot (UK)ɔːlawʊput
uːtooʌcupɜːbirdəabout
eɪdayaɪmyɔɪboyaʊnow
əʊ / oʊgo (UK / US)ɪəneareəhairʊətour

Consonants that look unusual

θthinðthisʃsheʒmeasure
tʃchurchdʒjudgeŋsingjyes

p b t d k g f v s z h m n l r w sound as in ordinary English spelling.

Marks

  • ˈ main stress, before the stressed syllable: /ˈwɔːtə/ water · ˌ lighter (secondary) stress: /ˌʌndəˈstænd/ understand
  • ː a long vowel · (r) an r said only in accents that pronounce it (most American, Scottish, Irish)

Common word endings

  • -s / -es (plurals; he/she form of verbs): /s/ after voiceless sounds (cats), /z/ after voiced (dogs), /ɪz/ after s, z, sh, ch, j sounds (buses, watches). Spelling: -es after s, x, z, ch, sh; consonant + y → -ies (city → cities).
  • -ed (past): /t/ after voiceless sounds (walked), /d/ after voiced (played), /ɪd/ after t or d (wanted). Spelling: love → loved, stop → stopped, carry → carried.
  • -ing: make → making, run → running, see → seeing.
  • Irregular: go, went, gone · be, was, been · see, saw, seen · man → men · child → children · mouse → mice.
  • Older (King James) forms: -eth = -s (he loveth = he loves) · -est with “thou” (thou lovest) · spake = spoke.

English Dictionary · 107,383 entries · Sources & licences

boss

UK /bɒs/ · US /bɔs/ noun, verb, adjective, proper noun

Forms bosses bossing bossed bosser bossest

  1. noun One who oversees and directs the work of others; a supervisor. “The boss of the company was going to Spain for work.”
  2. noun A person in charge of a business or company. “Chat turned to whisper when the boss entered the conference room.”
  3. noun A leader, the head of an organized group or team. “They named him boss because he had good leadership skills.”
  4. noun The head of a political party in a given region or district. “He is the Republican boss in Kentucky.”
  5. noun (Australia) The male owner or man in charge of a large rural property.
  6. noun (humorous) One's wife. “There's no olive oil; will sunflower oil do? — I'll have to run that by the boss.”
  7. noun (informal, especially India, MLE and Philippines) A term of address to a man, especially a customer; sometimes also to a friend or acquaintance of equal standing. “Good to see you, boss.”
  8. noun (video games) An enemy, often at the end of a level, that is particularly challenging and must be beaten in order to progress.
  9. verb (transitive) To exercise authoritative control over; to tell (someone) what to do, often repeatedly.
  10. adjective (slang, US, Canada, Liverpool) Of excellent quality, first-rate. “That is a boss Zefron poster.”
  11. noun (geology) A lump-like mass of rock, especially one projecting through a stratum of different rock.
  12. noun A convex protuberance in hammered work, especially the rounded projection in the centre of a shield.
  13. noun (mechanics) A protrusion; frequently a cylinder of material that extends beyond a hole.
  14. noun (architecture) A knob or projection, usually at the intersection of ribs in a vault.
  15. noun (architecture) A roughly cut stone set in place for later carving.
  16. noun (archery) A target block, made of foam but historically made of hay bales, to which a target face is attached.
  17. noun A wooden vessel for the mortar used in tiling or masonry, hung by a hook from the laths, or from the rounds of a ladder.
  18. noun A head or reservoir of water.
  19. verb (transitive) To decorate with bosses; to emboss.
  20. noun (obsolete) A hassock or small seat, especially made from a bundle of straw.

Synonyms

manager supervisor employer head leader guardian administrator chief commander director governor jefe head man higher-up honcho master overseer sachem suit superintendent foreman gaffer hirer party boss political boss knob emboss stamp brag

Antonyms

laborer subordinate worker

Etymology

Borrowed from Dutch baas, from Middle Dutch baes (“master of a household, friend”), from Old Dutch *baso (“uncle, kinsman”), from Proto-West Germanic *baswō, from Proto-Germanic *baswô (“uncle”), perhaps from Proto-Germanic *ba-, *bō- (“father, older male relative”), source also of the English terms babe, boy, bub, bully. Cognate with Middle Low German bās (“supervisor, foreman”), Old Frisian bas (“master”), hence Saterland Frisian Boas (“boss”), Old High German basa (“father's sister, cousin”), hence German Base (“aunt, cousin”).
Originally a term of respect used to address an older relative. Later, in New Amsterdam, it began to mean a person in charge who is not a master.
The video game sense is borrowed from Japanese ボス (bosu), borrowed from English boss.

From Middle English bos, bose, boce, from Old French boce (“lump, bulge, protuberance, knot”), from Frankish *bottja, from Proto-Germanic *bautaną (“to hit, strike, beat”). Doublet of beat; see there for more.

Apparently a corruption of bast.

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun Any protuberant part; a round, swelling part or body; a knoblike process; as, a boss of wood.
  2. noun A protuberant ornament on any work, either of different material from that of the work or of the same, as upon a buckler or bridle; a stud; a knob; the central projection of a shield. See Umbilicus.
  3. verb To ornament with bosses; to stud.
  4. noun A master workman or superintendent; a director or manager; a political dictator. [Slang, U. S.]

Etymology [OE. boce, bose, boche, OF. boce, boche, bosse, F. bosse, of G. origin; cf. OHG. bozo tuft, bunch, OHG. bozan, MHG. bôzen, to beat. See Beat, and cf. Botch a swelling.]

Etymology [OE. bocen, fr. OF. bocier. See the preceding word.]

Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “boss”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details