From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishboyboy1 /bɔɪ/ ●●● S1 W1 noun [countable] 1 CHILDSSCCHILDa male child, or a male person in general → girl The boys wanted to play football. boys and girls aged 11–18a teenage/adolescent boy A group of teenage boys stood talking in a group outside.bad/naughty boy ‘You naughty boy!’ she said in a harsh voice. What a polite little boy (=young male child) you are. Come on, Timmy, act like a big boy (=an older boy) now.► see thesaurus at man2 SONSSFa son I love my boys, but I’d like to have a girl, too. How old is your little boy (=young son)?3 → office/paper/delivery etc boy4 → city/local/country boy5 → the boys6 ANIMALSHBANAME OF A THINGa way of talking to a male horse or dog Good boy!7 → boys8 → boys will be boys9 → the boys in blue10 → old boy/my dear boy11 INSULT American English not polite an offensive way of talking to a black man → blue-eyed boy, → jobs for the boys at job(16), → mama's boy, mummy's boy, old boy, wide boy
Examples from the Corpus
boy• Harry teaches in a boys' school in Glasgow.• I used to live in Spain when I was a boy.• A confrontation developed and the aggrieved boy decided to take the matter to the headmaster.• It is the stuff of ivory towers and only clever boys and girls are expected to reflect upon its themes.• There are only five boys in the class.• Down the hall in a waiting room, volunteer Eula Gray finishes reading a story to a little boy.• Why don't you go play with that little boy over there?• At last, the morning came when Oliver was allowed to go out to work with the two other boys.• She looked at the boy now.• He put a hand on the boy's shoulder and walked with him down the hall.• The boys outpaced the girls in mechanical, verbal, and abstract reasoning, space relations, and numerical ability.• My two boys are still in college.big boy• United lit the fuse for a quality cup tie by giving everything they had against the big boys from the premier league.• They appeared to have one law for the big boys and another for the minnows.• I've had the big boys on to me today.• I have imagined him bravely making himself walk down the steps and face the hoarse shouts and attacks of the bigger boys.• And those are just some of the big boys.• Bethlehem was a new record company in 1957 and gathered this huge gang together to show up the big boys.• I wanted to prove myself by competing with the big boys.little boy• He was a bright little boy and a natural ham who took easily to the cameras.• Prince Henry, who's nine, is very a nice little boy, and his sister Elizabeth is beautiful.• But so happen, one little boy not so good.• Nobody pushed little boys to play sports if they preferred to cook instead; nobody mocked little girls who collected spiders.• After Madeleine left, Edouard spent more and more time with the little boy -every free moment.• The little boy had left his table and was coming over to ours.• The little boy had lost interest and started pulling open the drawers of the dressing-table.• The little boy loved toy soldiers and drafted speeches for the commanders-in-chief.boyboy2 interjection American English informal 1 EXCITEDused when you are excited or pleased about something Boy, that was a great meal!2 → oh boy!Examples from the Corpus
boy• Boy, that chicken was good!From Longman Business DictionaryBOYBOYFINANCE beginning of year; used in documents when talking about the beginning of a financial yearOrigin boy1 (1200-1300) Perhaps from Frisian boi “boy” 