▪ I. † boce1 Obs. Ichthyol.
[ad. L. bōx, pl. bōces, the name of a fish in Pliny (N.H. xxxii. xi.); cf. Fr. bocque a ‘great-eyed Cackerell fish’ (Cotgr.).]
An acanthopterygian fish (Box or Boöps vulgaris), also called Bogue (family Sparidæ), found in the Mediterranean, and rarely on the British coast.
| 1617 Rider Dict., Boces, small fishes so called, Leucomænides. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp., Boce, the name given by Aristotle, and many other of the antient Greek writers to the fish commonly called by authors boops. |
▪ II. † boce2 Obs.
[a. OF. bos wood, bush.]
A by-form of bush.
| 1482 Monk of Evesham (Arb.) 40 A full depe valeye and a derke set with bocis and brackys on euery syde. |
▪ III. boce
obs. form of boose, boss, botch.