boss around

Idioms  

1. Tell someone what to do, give orders. For example, David complained that his older sister was always bossing him around. The use of boss in the sense of “to dominate” dates from the mid-1800s, and around was added a few decades later.

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Example Sentences

The point of the order is to eliminate government dispensations that let the firms boss around companies.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 14, 2025

"It really seems like kind of a bread-and-butter strategy they use to signal to their borrower that 'We're the big boss around here'," Brad Parks explains.

From BBC • Sep. 29, 2021

He has a couple of young cousins whom he likes to boss around.

From New York Times • Jun. 14, 2020

They’re capable of higher-level thinking, but I, personally, would rather boss around first-graders.

From Slate • Nov. 1, 2018

“You can’t boss around the dead,” as the soothsayer tried to explain afterward, but Lady Constance was convinced the fortune-teller was a fraud, and spoke harshly about the incident for weeks afterward.

From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood