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

See Examples For:

boss around

In a career that has taken the former London transport boss around the world, delivering a new Penn Station, he says, would be his crowning achievement: “To me, this is the daddy.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 13, 2026

"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

It’s tech we’re supposed to be able to boss around that bosses us around instead.

From Slate ● Dec. 28, 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