unboy
English
Etymology
Verb
unboy (third-person singular simple present unboys, present participle unboying, simple past and past participle unboyed)
- (transitive) To divest of the traits of a boy.
- 1702–1704, Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon, “(please specify |book=I to XVI)”, in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in the Year 1641. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed at the [Sheldonian] Theater, published 1707, →OCLC:
- it was now time to unboy him, by putting him into some action and acquaintance of business
Usage notes
- The forms unboys and unboying are vanishingly rare or non-existent.
References
- “unboy”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.