bosh

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /bɒʃ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /bɑʃ/
• Rhymes: -ɒʃ
• Homophones: Boche, Bosch

Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish بوش (boş, “empty, unoccupied”). Entered popular usage in English from the novels of James Justinian Morier.

bosh (uncountable)

1. (chiefly British) Nonsense.
   • 1868, Shirley Brooks, For A' That And A' That:

     Tho' hundreds cheer his blatant bosh,
     He's but a goose for a' that.

   • 1884, George Gissing, chapter 17, in The Unclassed:

     But you know very well you're talking bosh," exclaimed Abraham, somewhat discomfited. "There must be government, and there must be order, say what you like.

   • 1912, Edwin L[egrand] Sabin, chapter VIII, in With Carson and Frémont:

     Oliver saw Kit Carson wink at the lieutenant and Lucien Maxwell, as the speech reached them, and it was evident that these three leaders did not believe the Indian tales. Consequently he himself decided that the reports of "evil spirits" awaiting were all bosh.

   • 1955, C[live] S[taples] Lewis, chapter 5, in The Magician's Nephew, Collins, published 1998:

     "Why, it's absolute bosh from beginning to end."

• blatherskite, hogwash, malarkey; see also Thesaurus:nonsense

bosh

1. (chiefly British) An expression of disbelief or annoyance.
   • 1904, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, chapter 1, in The Food of the Gods:

     "Bosh!" said the Vicar, rejecting the hint altogether.

   • 1911, G. K. Chesterton, “The Sins of Prince Saradine”, in The Innocence of Father Brown:

     “The people who wrote the mediaeval ballads,” answered the priest, “knew more about fairies than you do. It isn’t only nice things that happen in fairyland.”
     “Oh, bosh!” said Flambeau. “Only nice things could happen under such an innocent moon. I am for pushing on now and seeing what does really come. We may die and rot before we ever see again such a moon or such a mood.”

• fiddlesticks, horsefeathers, pull the other one; see also Thesaurus:bullshit

Probably from German, compare Böschung, böschen

bosh (plural boshes)

1. The lower part of a blast furnace, between the hearth and the stack.

Compare German Posse (“farce, burlesque”), Italian bozzo (“a rough stone”), bozzetto (“a rough sketch”).

bosh (plural boshes)

1. (British, chiefly Norfolk, slang, archaic) A figure.

   to cut a bosh — "to make a figure"

An onomatopoeic formation, imitating a sudden blow.

bosh

1. (British) An expression of speedy and satisfactory completion of a simple or straightforward task.
   • 2001, rec.games.computer.ultima.dragons‎^[1] (Usenet):

     It's a ~3 foot double lead with two 5-pin DIN plugs on one end and a big gameport-sized-n-shaped plug on the other. One end into the gameport, t'other plugs into the back of your keyboard. Bosh, job done.

   • 2001, uk.local.lincolnshire‎^[2] (Usenet):

     My father registered with these people a few months ago, and all his calls dried up. He was also of the opinion that he shouldn't need to register not to be disturbed, and he's pretty ruthless on the 'phone when he wants to be . . . but eventually he grew tired of it . . . bosh. Job done.

   • 2003, uk.rec.cars.misc‎^[3] (Usenet):

     Wrong, get a^[sic] LPG diesel. More power than either, better economy than either, bosh, job's done.

• bada bing bada boom, bammo, bingo, bish bash bosh, job done, that does it, there

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

bosh (third-person singular simple present boshes, present participle boshing, simple past and past participle boshed)

1. (UK, slang, transitive) To consume (illicit drugs).
   • 1996, Aidan Macfarlane, Magnus Macfarlane, Philip Robson, The user: the truth about drugs, what they do, how they feel, and why people take them:

     We boshed two grams each of the beast 10, and then we went downstairs.

   • 2015, Oliver Merlin, Clapham High Way, page 188:

     People want to make sure they are loaded up well before midnight. It's not like any other party where they might not turn up until eleven. They commence boshing pills straight away […]

   • 2017, Jon Boon, James Desborough, The Shamen rapper who sang "Es are good" has revealed he was high on drugs every time he did TOTP (in The Mirror newspaper)

     “I wasn’t on ​three​ (e) pills, I was on 1. So, I remember it. It’s only when you bosh that third pill you start losing it, that’s not really how you take ecstasy. Kids do that, but it’s a bit foolish. Not that I’m saying I haven’t done that!”

Of Romani usage.

bosh (plural boshes)

1. A fiddle (musical instrument).
   • Patrick "Pecker" Dunne quoted in 2009, Mícheál Ó hAodha, Migrants and Memory: The Forgotten “Postcolonials” (page 53)

     My father broke his bosh one night when he was in Waterford.

• John Camden Hotten (1873) The Slang Dictionary

• BHOs, HBOS, hobs

Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish بوش (boş).

bosh

1. empty (devoid of content)

• mbush

• boshllëk

bosh

1. fiddle

Inherited from Chagatai باش (bāš /⁠bāš⁠/), from Proto-Turkic *baĺč (“head”).

• IPA^(key): /bɒʃ/

bosh (plural boshlar)

1. (anatomy) head
2. boss
3. beginning