boss-shot dial. and slang.
[See boss v.3]
A bad shot or aim; fig. an unsuccessful attempt.
| 1890 Farmer Slang, Boss, to miss one's aim; to make such a shot as a boss-eyed person would be expected to make. Boss-shot is a common phrase. 1898 Eng. Dial. Dict. s.v., A bad shot with a stone is called a boss-shot. 1912 W. Deeping Sincerity xviii. 141 Harkness made a clutch at the bow, but Master Brandon was too quick for him. He retreated three paces, grinning. ‘Boss shot, that!’ 1919 E. H. Jones Road to En-dor (1920) xxviii. 300 The student..made two boss shots before he hit the bull. |
Also in corrupt form bosh-shot.
| 1939 ‘G. Orwell’ Coming up for Air iii. i. 181 The Nazis chop people's heads off..and sometimes the executioner makes a bosh shot. 1959 ‘O. Mills’ Stairway to Murder vii. 80 You haven't been having another bosh shot at the Crown Jewels, have you? |