water boy
Americannoun
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a person who carries a canteen or bucket of drinking water to those too occupied to fetch it, as to soldiers, laborers, or football players.
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a person who sees that livestock is supplied with water, as by filling water troughs.
Etymology
Origin of water boy
First recorded in 1630–40
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.
If it was anyone else on Sunday behaving and performing like he did Erik ten Hag would have sent them to be the water boy for the under-18s!
From BBC • Apr. 24, 2024
He drove the golf carts, acted as a water boy, and looked like he had a blast.
From Seattle Times • Oct. 2, 2023
Jonathan Ogden of St. Albans may be the best football player the region ever produced, but he played offensive tackle, a position about as likely to win the Heisman as water boy.
From Washington Post • Dec. 9, 2022
For a brief time, I was the rock ’n’ roll water boy to my masses of fans.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 3, 2022
He said the water boy had just brought news to the field hands, and it had been passed from one to the other until it reached him.
From "Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad" by Ann Petry
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.
