▪ I. bossing, vbl. n.1
(ˈbɒsɪŋ)
Also 5 bocynge.
[f. boss v.1]
The action of the verb boss1: a. swelling; b. ornamenting with bosses; c. (meaning obscure: see quot. 1480).
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 41 Bocynge or strowtynge, turgor. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. ii. (1520) 17/1 Two other wayes he made in bossynge through out the lande, the one is called Fosse, and that other Fosse dyke. 1583 Grindal Will Wks. (1843) 459, I give..ten pounds towards the clasping, bossing, and chaining of the same [books]. |
d. In ceramics, the process of smoothing the surface of colour applied to pottery over a coating of boiled oil; also, the coating of oil used for this purpose.
| a 1877 Knight Dict. Mech., Bossing, ground-laying the surface of porcelain in an unfinished state, to form a basis of adherence for the color... The bossing is a coat of boiled oil, to hold the color. 1879 E. C. Hancock Amat. Pott. & Glass Painter 49 When the oil has become somewhat set, so as to be ‘tacky’ to the finger, it is ready for the second process, called ‘bossing’. |
▪ II. bossing, vbl. n.2 U.S.
(ˈbɒsɪŋ)
[f. boss v.2]
The practice of acting as a ‘boss’.
| 1864 Sala in Daily Tel. 23 Dec., They won't do a stroke of work if they can help it..They like ‘bossing’. 1884 Manch. Exam. 13 Aug. 5/4 The ‘bossing’ of railways is a practice not exclusively confined to the United States. |