Word.ws English Dictionary

bully boy

bully boy noun: a tough, aggressive man, especially one who is young.

Noun

bully boy (plural bully boys)

  1. A tough, aggressive man, especially one who is young.
    • Back in the Mussolini era, Carlo Corbisiero, part-time barber, brawler and bully boy of the village of Marzano di Nola, near Naples, was pretty proud of his nickname—"Crackshot."1953 August 17, “Italy: The Mills of Justice”, in Time
  2. (dated) A familiar male associate who is regarded rather fondly, especially one who is spirited and genial.
    • "Then, boys, here's to the health of Mr. Ferguson. He's a bully boy, and no coward."1878, Horatio Alger, chapter 19, in The Young Adventurer
    • "For troth I'm a merry dog, I—a wanton wag, a bully boy and jovial, though woeful o' look!"1920, Jeffery Farnol, The Geste of Duke Jocelyn, Fytte 5
    Synonyms:
    buddy, chum, good old boy, pal

Synonyms of bully boy

Forms of bully boy

pluralbully boys
alternative formbullyboy
alternative formbully-boy

Questions about bully boy

What does bully boy mean?
Bully boy means a tough, aggressive man, especially one who is young.
What part of speech is bully boy?
Bully boy is a noun.
What is the plural of bully boy?
The plural of bully boy is bully boys.

Words near bully boy in the dictionary

  1. bullwhippings
  2. bullwhips
  3. bullwort
  4. bully
  5. bully beef
  6. bully boy
  7. bully boys
  8. Bully Kutta
  9. bully off
  10. bully pulpit
  11. bully pulpits

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: bully boy (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.

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