BOY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does boy mean? 

• BOY (noun)
  The noun BOY has 3 senses:

1. a youthful male person

2. a friendly informal reference to a grown man

3. a male human offspring

  Familiarity information: BOY used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BOY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A youthful male person

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

boy; male child

Context example:

most soldiers are only boys in uniform

Hypernyms ("boy" is a kind of...):

male; male person (a person who belongs to the sex that cannot have babies)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "boy"):

altar boy (a boy serving as an acolyte)

ball boy (a boy who retrieves balls for tennis players)

bat boy ((baseball) a boy who takes care of bats and other baseball equipment)

cub; lad; laddie; sonny; sonny boy (a male child (a familiar term of address to a boy))

catamite (a boy who submits to a sexual relationship with a man)

farm boy (a boy who has grown up on a farm)

Fauntleroy; Little Lord Fauntleroy (an excessively polite and well-dressed boy)

ploughboy; plowboy (a boy who leads the animals that draw a plow)

schoolboy (a boy attending school)

Scout (a Boy Scout or Girl Scout)

shop boy (a young male shop assistant)

Antonym:

girl (a youthful female person)

Derivation:

boyhood (the childhood of a boy)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A friendly informal reference to a grown man

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Context example:

he likes to play golf with the boys

Hypernyms ("boy" is a kind of...):

adult male; man (an adult person who is male (as opposed to a woman))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "boy"):

broth of a boy; broth of a man (an outstanding person; as if produced by boiling down a savory broth)

one of the boys (a man who has been socially accepted into a group of other men)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A male human offspring

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

boy; son

Context example:

his boy is taller than he is

Hypernyms ("boy" is a kind of...):

male offspring; man-child (a child who is male)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "boy"):

Jnr; Jr; Junior (a son who has the same first name as his father)

mama's boy; mamma's boy; mother's boy (a boy excessively attached to his mother; lacking normal masculine interests)

Instance hyponyms:

Esau ((Old Testament) the eldest son of Isaac who would have inherited the covenant that God made with Abraham and that Abraham passed on to Isaac; he traded his birthright to his twin brother Jacob for a mess of pottage)

Antonym:

girl (a female human offspring)

 Context examples 

ADHD is more common in boys than girls.

(Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, NIH: National Institute of Mental Health)

He looked his captain in the eyes and replied slowly: I am going to get that boy down.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

It is more common in boys than girls.

(Asperger Syndrome, NIH: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development)

An inherited immune disorder that occurs in young boys.

(Aldrich syndrome, NCI Dictionary)

He was a bright boy, so the tale runs, healthy and strong, and he had seen thirteen suns, in their way of reckoning time.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

A boy or man who is the lover of a girl or woman.

(Boyfriend, NCI Thesaurus)

I had hardly finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was putting in the horse.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The boy protested that she should not; she continued to declare that she would, and the argument ended only with the visit.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

Improvements were seen in both boys and girls, in children with and without asthma.

(Cleaner Air Tied to Healthier Lungs in Kids, NIH)

Placental cells from boys were also found to be more susceptible to the toxic effects of a drug that blocked spermine production.

(Baby’s sex affects mother’s metabolism and may influence risk of pregnancy-related complications, University of Cambridge)