Bossed

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Featuring protruding bumps as part of texture or design ; showing dominance or authority by managing or supervising tasks or people
2. Having prominent rounded lumps on an object, usually for structural or decorative reasons ; behaving as one who commands or oversees work or others
3. Possessing noticeable raised bumps or nodules on a surface ; directing or leading others with authority in a supervisory role

Etymology: Bossed is simply the past tense of "boss", so the story belongs to the verb itself. The noun and the verb both come from Dutch "baas", which at first was a warm term of respect for an older relative. The word was borrowed into English through Dutch and was used in New Amsterdam, where it came to mean a person in charge who was not a master. The sense of bossing people around grew out of that supervisory meaning. A "boss" was originally the person who directed workers, and to boss someone became the act of acting in that role, usually in a domineering way. The English word that developed from the Dutch is entirely separate from a different English "boss", meaning a lump or stud, which came from Old French "boce" and is a doublet of "beat". Both share the same spelling, but they reached English along different paths.

Synonyms: commanded, directed, supervised