Boche
Americannoun
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Boche,
plural
-
Boches
plural
noun
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a German, esp a German soldier
-
(usually functioning as plural) Germans collectively, esp German soldiers regarded as the enemy
Sensitive Note
This term was originally French slang, perhaps from the Franco-Prussian War. In English, it appears today only in historical contexts.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of Boche
First recorded in 1885–90; from French; of uncertain origin; possibly a shortening of Alboche, Alleboche “German,” equivalent to al(emand) “German” + (ca)boche “cabbage, blockhead, head of a nail”
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Customs and Border Protection arrested 48-year-old Octaviano Boche Arevalo last week at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and he remains in custody in Texas.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 28, 2018
From a base hospital, one suffering doughboy was O.K. with his mother learning that “a Boche shell has played the devil with my beauty.”
From New York Times ● May 12, 2018
The youngest girl staying at the safe house is 10-year-old Boche.
From BBC ● Mar. 31, 2015
The band also hired booking agent David "Boche" Viecelli, whose Chicago-based company, Billions, had earned a reputation for shrewd bookings and personal artist relationships with bands like Pavement.
From Reuters ● Jul. 6, 2010
At five o’clock I set off to get some potatoes, hoping once again that we’d meet, but while I was still in the bathroom fixing my hair, he went to see Boche.
From "The Diary of a Young Girl" by Anne Frank
“We like to see each other’s lives and foibles and accidents,” says Edward Boches, a professor of advertising at Boston University.
From Time ● Feb. 20, 2014
Fentress and Bryan Boches, a Medley managing director, also met with then U.S.
From BusinessWeek ● Feb. 27, 2012
"We do not think in terms of locking someone in," says Ed Boches, public affairs director of Data General, a Massachusetts computer manufacturer.
From Time Magazine Archive
In one of the trench newspapers I saw the following verse: Boches, à l'univers votre zèle importun Fait des 'communiqués' dont personne n'est dupe.
From The White Road to Verdun by Kathleen Burke
On the night of the 9th I heard a good deal of noise, and somebody woke up the Boches sous-officiers who were quartered in a house across the street.
From A Volunteer Poilu by Henry Beston
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
