Acronyms dictionary
BOS
[bee-oh-es] or [baws]
What does BOS mean?
BOS is a common shortening of the city of Boston, Massachusetts and an internet acronym, often standing for boyfriend or boss over shoulder.
Where does BOS come from?
Examples of BOS
Who uses BOS?
As a short form of Boston, BOS is widely and commonly used to indicate travel to Boston or for several of Boston’s sports team, including the Red Sox (baseball), Celtics (basketball), and Bruins (ice hockey). The familiarity of this abbreviation has lent BOS to merchandise (e.g., I ❤️ BOS shirts). BOS can also refer to the city more generally, especially as a hashtag (e.g., Severe weather coming to #BOS or Training for the marathon #BOS).
As an acronym, BOS may be used in text messages or internet chats when someone needs to communicate slyly. This could be benign, such as a man refraining to text certain details because he is planning a surprise birthday for his boyfriend (talk later BOS) or more nefarious, if, say, a girlfriend has been flirting with a guy who isn’t her partner.
Be mindful that many other various organizations may abbreviate their name as BOS, as does the Bank of Scotland, British Overseas School, or Brussels Outdoor School.
Also note that in certain gang cultures, BOS can stand for beating on sight or refer to the Brotherhood of Struggle, a subset of the Chicago-based Black Gangster Disciples street gang.
Note
This is not meant to be a formal definition of BOS like most terms we define on Dictionary.com, but is rather an informal word summary that hopefully touches upon the key aspects of the meaning and usage of BOS that will help our users expand their word mastery.