bossman
Syllables: boss·manUK/ˈbɒsmæn/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Multicultural London English/ˈbɔsmän/
bossman noun: a male boss or employer.
Noun
bossman (plural bossmen)
- A male boss or employer.
- Valerie nodded her head and added, "The workers don't back you up. They want to cooperate when they don't see the bossman, but as they see the bossman, they get frightened. […]2004, quoted in Laurie Kroshus Medina, Negotiating Economic Development
- I had a job but the bossman let me go (he said)
I'm sorry but I won't be needing your help no more (I said)
Please, mister bossman, I need this job more than you know
But he gave me my last paycheck and he sent me on out the door2010, “I Need A Dollar”, performed by Aloe Blacc
- Used as a term of address for an unfamiliar, possibly distrusted man: bud, buddy, friend.
- You should watch what you say, bossman.
- I don’t know what to tell you, bossman.
- Used as a term of address for a man who appears courageous: boss.
- You really showed them, bossman. What’s your name?
Forms of bossman
| plural | bossmen |
|---|---|
| alternative form | boss man |
| alternative form | boss-man |
Origin of bossman
From boss + man.
Questions about bossman
- What does bossman mean?
- Bossman means a male boss or employer.
- What part of speech is bossman?
- Bossman is a noun.
- How do you pronounce bossman?
- Bossman is pronounced /ˈbɒsmæn/ (UK).
- What is the plural of bossman?
- The plural of bossman is bossmen.
Words near bossman in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: bossman (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-ne-bossman.ogg.
Cite this entry: “bossman.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bossman. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.