boy

1. (diminutive, especially with a possessive) A son of any age.Examples: "Low as that tide has ebbed with me, / It still reflects to memory’s eye / The hour, my brave, my only boy, / Fell by the side of great Dundee."; "I tried. I tried. But he wouldn't listen. My boy was stubborn. My boy was strong. And he was gonna get himself killed. Now I told him, I told him I did it too. That I was like Hoffman, getting by, and that's what you heard that night: me talking him down, him kicking and screaming until the fight went out of him. He put me up on a pedestal. And I had to show him that I was down in the gutter with the rest of them. Broke my boy. I broke my boy."Synonyms: son

2. (endearing, diminutive) A male human younger than the speaker.

3. (informal, sometimes mildly derogatory) A male human of any age, as opposed to a "girl" (female human of any age).Examples: "boys' club"; ""My dear girl, what has he done?" said Mrs. Mallowe, sweetly. It is noticeable that ladies of a certain age call each other "dear girl," just as commissioners of twenty-eight years' standing address their equals in the Civil List as "my boy.""; "It opened up a whole range [of feelings]. Some of them we were prepared for ― like for some women to feel some of the images were anti-feminist […] One woman wrote, "I can see the boys have taught you well." "Macho B.S.," someone else wrote."

4. (obsolete) A male of low station, (especially as pejorative) a worthless male, a wretch; a mean and dishonest male, a knave.Examples: "Do’ſt thou call mee foole boy?"

5. (now rare and usually offensive outside some Commonwealth nations) A male servant, slave, assistant, or employee, particularly:Examples: "He allowed his ‘boy’ - an overfed young negro from the coast - to treat the white men, under his very eyes, with provoking insolence."; "“Why does he go out and pinch all his dogs in person? He’s an administrator, isn’t he? Wouldn’t he hire a boy or something?” “We call them ‘staff,’” Roger replies, […]"

6. (now rare and usually offensive outside some Commonwealth nations) A male servant, slave, assistant, or employee, particularly:Examples: "I resolved to continue in the Cave, with my two Servants, my Maid, and a Boy, whom I had brought from France."