baas

/ bɑːs /

noun

1. a South African word for a boss: often used by Black or Coloured people addressing a White manager or overseer

Word History and Origins

Origin of baas¹

C17: from Afrikaans, from Middle Dutch baes master; see boss ¹

Example Sentences

One baas was bigger than the other, and on his chest and on his body were pictures of birds, and beasts, and strange things.

From Project Gutenberg

We knew then that his medicine was bad medicine, otherwise the white baas without the pictures could not have killed him.

From Project Gutenberg

So we were wroth and made to slay the other baas, but he shot us down with a fire stick and returned to his own country in haste.

From Project Gutenberg

They are just as much a manufactured article as the little woolly "baa-baas" in the baby's Noah's Ark.

From Project Gutenberg

Some already had them in hand, but delayed opening fire, a word from baas Rynwald restraining them.

From Project Gutenberg