Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A white person in a position of authority in relation to nonwhites, as an employer or owner of a business.
  • noun Used as a form of address for such a person.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun South Africa An employer, a boss. Frequently as a form of address.
  • noun Plural form of baa.
  • verb Third-person singular simple present indicative form of baa.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun South African term for `boss'

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Afrikaans, from Dutch, master; see boss.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Dutch baas.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Inflected forms.

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Examples

  • The word boss comes from the Dutch word baas which literally means master.

    Blog De Ganz | Archive | December 2007

  • The word "boss" is derived from the Dutch baas, meaning

    What Business Can Learn from Open Source 2005

  • The pamphlet said "the baboon is in office" and the "baas" (former provincial commissioner Chris Serfontein) had left.

    ANC Daily News Briefing 2000

  • The rest of the song has Mafokate pleading, tongue in cheek with the white "baas" (overlord) not to call him "kaffir" while the

    ANC Daily News Briefing 1995

  • Some told stories of being asked to address young white police officers as "baas" (Afrikaans for ` boss ').

    ANC Daily News Briefing 1995

  • Farmers 'insistence on being addressed as "baas" or "missus" was not conciliatory.

    ANC Daily News Briefing 1994

  • He recalls, as typical suffering of his generation, the task of delivering a letter from his white "baas" (master) to another nearby white farmer.

    ANC Daily News Briefing 1994

  • Mr Phosa said the "baas" mentality of the past no longer existed, and that if anyone called another a "kaffir", the aggrieved party should take the matter to court.

    ANC Daily News Briefing 1994

  • Party, Mr Qunta said it showed the critical role that needed to be played by Azapo in urging blacks to be self-reliant and not regard the white man as the "baas" of the old days.

    ANC Daily News Briefing 1994

  • He insults every black police man and woman in this country by insinuating that they will not be able to do their work without the supervision of the white "baas".

    ANC Daily News Briefing 1993

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