office boy

American  

noun

1. a person, traditionally a boy, employed in an office to run errands, do odd jobs, etc.

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office boy British  

noun

1. a former name for office junior

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Etymology

Origin of office boy

First recorded in 1840–50

Example Sentences

When he was demobbed in 1946, he said he got the only job he could: "office boy" at the Inland Revenue office in Luton, where his wife worked at the Vauxhall car factory.

From BBC • Jul. 1, 2025

Mr. Hamilton, who had no interest in following his father into the British diplomatic service, entered films at 17 as a studio office boy.

From Washington Post • Apr. 21, 2016

His assistant and only employee, besides an office boy, was his fiancée, twenty-year-old Blanche Wolf, whom he married a year later and who worked for the company the rest of her life.

From The New Yorker • Apr. 11, 2016

Guttman fell into the career by accident when he began an office boy at age 19 at Rogers & Cowan while attending UCLA.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 13, 2016

An office boy came along to direct me.

From "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison