boy noun [Cf. D. boef, Fries. boi, boy; akin to G. bube, Icel. bofi rouge.]

1. A male child, from birth to the age of puberty; a lad; hence, a son.

My only boy fell by the side of great Dundee. Sir W. Scott.

☞ Boy is often used as a term of comradeship, as in college, or in the army or navy. In the plural used colloquially of members of an associaton, fraternity, or party.

2. In various countries, a male servant, laborer, or slave of a native or inferior race; also, any man of such a race; – considered derogatory by those so called, and now seldom used. [derog.]

He reverted again and again to the labor difficulty, and spoke of importing boys from Capetown. Frances Macnab.

Boy bishop

a boy (usually a chorister) elected bishop, in old Christian sports, and invested with robes and other insignia. He practiced a kind of mimicry of the ceremonies in which the bishop usually officiated.

The Old Boy

the Devil. [Slang]

Yellow boys

guineas. [Slang, Eng.]

Boy’s love

a popular English name of Southernwood (Artemisia abrotonum); – called also lad's love.

Boy's play

childish amusements; anything trifling.

Boy transitive verb To act as a boy; – in allusion to the former practice of boys acting women's parts on the stage.

I shall see
Some squeaking Cleopatra boy my greatness. Shak.