section boss

American  

noun

Railroads.

1. the boss of a section gang.

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Etymology

Origin of section boss

First recorded in 1865–70

Example Sentences

Finder of the Minnesota maid was one P. F. Stary, sharp-eyed section boss.

From Time Magazine Archive

For twinty years a section boss, he worked upon the track, And be it to his cred-i-it he niver had a wrack.

From Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads by Various

He's a husk, Barney Megrue is—big and breezy, with crisp iron-gray hair, lively black eyes, and all the gentle ways of a section boss.

From Wilt Thou Torchy by Ford, Sewell

Change every man in that gang, and never leave this spot except when the section boss replaces you, until we're ready for firing.

From Thurston of Orchard Valley by Dunton, W. Herbert

Why, there's the section boss, his wife—you know her—she does the washin' for most everybody.

From The Girl at the Halfway House A Story of the Plains by Hough, Emerson