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# boss

«boss» in Mova's school dictionary: **the person in charge at work who tells others what to do** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (boss, bosses); verb (boss, bosses, bossed, bossing — boss around)

### meaning for a pupil

1) A boss is the person in charge at work who tells others what to do. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/boss/#m1)

2) To boss someone around is to keep telling them what to do in an unkind way. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/boss/#m2)

3) In video games a boss is a very strong enemy at the end of a level. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/boss/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In everyday life parents and adults have bosses at work. In manners and friendship lessons being bossy is a problem: good leaders ask and share. In games children fight the boss at the end of a level. Phrases: the boss, boss around, be your own boss, bossy.

### examples

- My mum's boss gave her a day off. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/boss/#x1)
- Who's the boss here? [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/boss/#x2)
- Stop bossing me around! [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/boss/#x3)
- The boss of the shop opened the doors. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/boss/#x4)
- He wants to be his own boss one day. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/boss/#x5)
- I beat the final boss in the game. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/boss/#x6)
- My sister is so bossy. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/boss/#x7)

### note

Plural «bosses» (add -es after s). «Bossy» (adjective) means always telling others what to do — it is not a compliment. «Boss around» is informal. A boss is in charge; workers or staff work for the boss.

### In the corpora

- [In Liverpool "boss" means great; in the East Midlands "me duck" is a friendly way to address someone.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/40-openings-that-hook-the-reader/17/)
- [When a boss is forced out, the press release often says he is leaving "to spend more time with family".](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/20-debt-and-jobs/3/)
- [Losing a job is painful and frightening, so bosses, newspapers and governments reach for soft words when they talk about it.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/21-work-firing-and-the-economy/0/)
- [Kai's mate swore he'd beaten the final boss «in like ten minutes, bro».](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/451-the-check-that-settles-it/6/)
- [Barging in and bossing people about makes others want you out; fitting in first works better.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/466-joining-a-game-and-the-shy-kid/34/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «boss» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/boss/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.