boss

1. An engraved stamp which is pressed onto a piece of paper or other material to leave an impression on it. Doing this is called embossing.
2. A raised nail or stud on a shield or armor. A shield featuring bosses is, straightforwardly enough, a bossed shield.
3. A chieftain, foreman, manager, or other leader of a group; a honcho. As a verb, to give orders; hence, to boss around.

Ford's revamped circa-1968 Mustang, bigger and beefier than the original, had the nickname "Boss Hoss". It was boss, though you might cringe at the man using such a word; on the other hand, if you were into cars, you probably weren't all too concerned that some Madison Avenue adman had appropriated one of your favorite superlatives.

Verve Records, after having signed a bunch of Boston bands, and with no idea as to what to do with them, dubbed the various musics they made "The Bosstown Sound". Not so boss.

Sometimes called guardians.

• SD-1, an overdrive unit for the guitarist
• HM-2, an heavy-metal distorsion unit for the guitarist
• SP-202 a budget phrase sampler
• DD-1, one of the first digital delay unit in a pedal
• VF-1, a multi-effect rack sequel to the famous SE-50 and SE-70
• BR-8, an 8-track digital recorder with an included effect unit, a drum box and a mixer
• etc.

Boss, an elevated or thickened portion, usually around an aperture, or a swage or stump used in shaping sheet metal. In Gothic architecture it is the protuberance in a vaulted ceiling formed by the junction of the ends of several ribs, and serving to bind them together.

Entry from Everybody's Cyclopedia, 1912.

Boss (?), n.; pl. Bosses (#). [OE. boce, bose, boche, OF. boce, boche, bosse, F. bosse, of G. origin; cf. OHG. bozo tuft, bunch, OHG. bozan, MHG. bozen, to beat. See Beat, and cf. Botch a swelling.]

1.

Any protuberant part; a round, swelling part or body; a knoblike process; as, a boss of wood.

2.

A protuberant ornament on any work, either of different material from that of the work or of the same, as upon a buckler or bridle; a stud; a knob; the central projection of a shield. See Umbilicus.

3. Arch.

A projecting ornament placed at the intersection of the ribs of ceilings, whether vaulted or flat, and in other situations.

4. [Cf. D. bus box, Dan. bosse.]

A wooden vessel for the mortar used in tiling or masonry, hung by a hook from the laths, or from the rounds of a ladder.

Gwilt.

5. Mech. (a)

The enlarged part of a shaft, on which a wheel is keyed, or at the end, where it is coupled to another.

A swage or die used for shaping metals.

6.

A head or reservoir of water.

© Webster 1913.

Boss (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Bossed (#); p. pr. & vb. n. Bossing.] [OE. bocen, fr. OF. bocier. See the preceding word.]

To ornament with bosses; to stud.

© Webster 1913.

Boss, n. [D. baas master.]

A master workman or superintendent; a director or manager; a political dictator.

© Webster 1913.