Boy Definition

boi

boys

noun

boys

A male child from birth to the age of physical maturity; lad; youth.

Webster's New World

Any man; fellow.

Webster's New World

A man regarded as immature or callow.

Webster's New World

A son.

Mrs. Dill's oldest boy.

Webster's New World

A male domestic worker or servant.

Webster's New World

Synonyms:

Antonyms:

interjection

Used to express pleasure, surprise, etc.

Webster's New World

verb

To use the word boy to refer to someone.

Don't boy me!

Wiktionary

To act as a boy (in allusion to the former practice of boys acting women's parts on the stage)

Wiktionary

Other Word Forms of Boy

Singular:

boy

Plural:

From Middle English boy, boye (“servant, commoner, knave, boy”), from Old English *bōia (“boy”), from Proto-Germanic *bōjô (“younger brother, young male relation”), from Proto-Germanic *bō- (“brother, close male relation”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰā-, *bʰāt- (“father, elder brother, brother”). Cognate with Scots boy (“boy”), Eastern Frisian boi (“boy, young gentleman”), West Frisian boai (“boy”), Middle Dutch boi, booi (“boy”), Low German Boi (“boy”), and probably to the Old English proper name Bōia. Also related to West Flemish boe (“brother”), Norwegian dialectal boa (“brother”), Dutch boef (“rogue, knave”), German dialectal Bube (“boy, lad, knave”), Icelandic bófi (“rogue, crook, bandit, knave”). See also bully.

From Wiktionary
Middle English boi male servant, churl, young male possibly from Old French embuié person in fetters from past participle of embuier to fetter from buie fetter, shackle from Latin bōia collar or yoke used to restrain criminals probably from Greek boeiā (dorā) (skin) of an ox, an ox hide (such restraints being made from ox hide) from feminine of boeios of an ox or oxen, of ox hide from bous ox gwou- in Indo-European roots

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition