bosser
Pluralbossers
- 1A tool used to press or push clay firmly into a mold.
The craftsman worked each lump of clay into the mold with a wooden bosser.
Several bossers of different sizes hung above the workbench.
- 2A large marble used in children's games of marbles.
She kept her prized bosser in a small velvet pouch.
A well-aimed bosser scattered the smaller marbles across the ring.
Similarshooter
Note
A playground word from British dialect, one of the homely names children gave a big marble. Iona and Peter Opie's Children's Games with Things (1997) lists it beside big 'uns and bulls. Arthur Beckett, in The Sussex County Magazine (1953), describes games at Battle played with glass marbles and locally made bossers of concrete. Outside those regional settings, the plain phrase a big marble is clearer.
- 3A bossy person who likes to order others around.
Like a self-appointed foreman who can't stop handing out orders.
Everyone in the office knew him as a bosser who couldn't delegate without micromanaging.
They were all bossers here. Especially the women. They were bossy even when they deared her.
1985, Gertrude Story, The Need of Wanting AlwaysSimilarmicromanager, martinet, dictator
Note
A rare agent noun, apparently boss plus -er, though even that origin carries a question mark. The everyday adjective bossy does most of this work. Gertrude Story's The Need of Wanting Always (1985) sets the two side by side: "They were all bossers here… They were bossy even when they deared her." Use bosser for effect; calling someone bossy is the safer, more familiar choice.
Practice
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Origin
From boss + -er?