boss-boy, noun

Origin:
EnglishShow more English boss + boy sense 1 a.
offensive
A Black man in charge of a team of mine-workers or other labourers; a Black foreman or caretaker; baas-boy sense 1. Cf. induna sense 1 b. See also boy sense 1 a and b.
1906 Daily Chron. (U.K.) 11 Apr. 3One white man in the mine is expected to ‘boss’ forty blacks or Chinese, which he cannot do with safety, in fact the black ‘boss-boy’ is left to do much of the blasting.
1923 G.H. Nicholls Bayete! 119Munyati was the boss-boy on the farm, a man of forty-five years of age.
1936 Williams & May I Am Black 169To be a boss-boy was a great honour. It meant that he had charge over twelve or fifteen black men.
1952 Drum Mar. 33Very often the boss boys, themselves Africans, are tough and ruthless with the labourers, for if they are not they lose their jobs.
1960 J.J.L. Sisson S. Afr. Judicial Dict. 100A native boss boy is not necessarily a ‘servant’ as there defined, as prima facie the term boss boy would seem to indicate supervision rather than ‘handicraft or other bodily labour’.
1962 A.J. Luthuli Let my People Go 218On the affected farms, African men — some are no more than boys — dig potatoes with their bare fingers. ‘Boss-Boys’ and overseers stand over them with whips, which they do not hesitate to use.
1973 E. Prov. Herald 26 Mar. 1The ceiling for supervisors (known as boss boys) of whom there are about 8 000 will increase from R68 per month to R104.
1980 M. Lipton in Optima Vol.29 No.2, 99On the job, workers were subjected to strict and often aggressive supervision by White miners and Black ‘boss boys’.
1985 J. Imrie Informant, Chamber of MinesIn respect of the term ‘Boss Boy’. The leader of a team of underground mineworkers is officially and generally called a team leader (Fanakalo: tim lida) on gold mines and an mpati (pronounced mpah-tee and meaning supervisor) on collieries.
1988 Style May 55She relies heavily on the sweat of the backroom chaps with the picks and shovels, an indispensable team led by what is still known, anachronistically, as a Bossboy.
A Black man in charge of a team of mine-workers or other labourers; a Black foreman or caretaker; baas-boy sense 1.
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19061988

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derogatory or offensive
BOSS, nounn.bossiedokter, nounn.
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