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Boy vs Chap - What's the difference?

boy | chap | Related terms |

In obsolete terms the difference between boy and chap

is that boy is a lower-class or disreputable man; a worthless person while chap is a division; a breach, as in a party.

In transitive terms the difference between boy and chap

is that boy is to act as a boy in allusion to the former practice of boys acting women's parts on the stage while chap is to cause to open in slits or chinks; to split; to cause the skin of to crack or become rough.

As nouns the difference between boy and chap

is that boy is male servant while chap is a man, a fellow.

As verbs the difference between boy and chap

is that boy is to use the word boy to refer to someone while chap is of the skin, to split or flake due to cold weather or dryness.

As an interjection boy

is exclamation of surprise, pleasure or longing.

boy

English

Alternative forms

* boi (Jamaican English)

Noun

(en noun)
  • Male servant.
  • # (now, rare) A male servant, in general senses.
  • # (historical, now, offensive) A non-white male servant, as used especially by whites in a colonial settlement etc.
  • When the 'dipenda' (independence movement) in Belgian Congo turned violent, the white colonisers' often materially privileged black domestic boys were mistrusted and often abused as collaborators.
  • # (now, offensive) A non-white male.
  • (obsolete) A lower-class or disreputable man; a worthless person.
  • * 1608 , (William Shakespeare), (King Lear) , Act I Scene 4:
  • Dost thou call me fool, boy ?
  • A young male human; a male child or young adult.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-19, author= Ian Sample
  • , volume=189, issue=6, page=34, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Irregular bedtimes may affect children's brains , passage=Irregular bedtimes may disrupt healthy brain development in young children, according to a study of intelligence and sleeping habits.  ¶ Going to bed at a different time each night affected girls more than boys , but both fared worse on mental tasks than children who had a set bedtime, researchers found.}}
  • A son.
  • * (Walter Scott)
  • My only boy fell by the side of great Dundee.
  • A man of any age, used as a friendly diminutive, or of a man who is merely younger than the speaker.
  • * 1977 , (Bert Newton), to (Mohammed Ali) at the 1977 Logie Awards:[http://www.abc.net.au/thingo/txt/s1088100.htm]
  • I like the boy .
  • (colloquial) A male friend or fellow of some group, community etc. (mainly used in the plural).
  • (US, slang) Heroin.
  • Synonyms

    * brat * knave * lad * squirt * youngster * youth * See also

    See also

    * (African-American) uncle

    Antonyms

    * (young male) girl

    Derived terms

    * altar boy * attaboy * bad boy * bagboy * ball boy, ballboy * bat boy * b-boy * bell boy, bellboy * best boy * big boys * blue-eyed boy * boi * boy band * boy-bishop * boy crazy * boyfriend * boy genius * boyhood * boy howdy * boyish * boyism * boykin (diminutive) * boy oh boy * boy racer * boys and their toys * boy scout * boytjie * boy toy * boys will be boys * boy wonder * bully boy * bum boy * cabin boy * city boy * college boy * copy boy * cowboy * delivery boy * doughboy * farm boy * frat boy * golden boy * homeboy * house boy * lawnboy * little boy * lowboy * mama’s boy]], [[mummy's boy, mummy’s boy * my boy * nancy boy * newsboy * office boy * oh boy * old boy * our boy * page boy, pageboy * paper boy, paperboy * pizza boy, pizzaboy * pool boy * poor boy, po’ boy * poster boy * potboy * pretty boy * rent boy * sailor boy * sea boy * shop boy * sonny boy * stableboy * tallboy * Teddy boy * tomboy * traffic boy * water boy * whipping boy * whiteboy, white boy * wide boy * wolf boy * yellow boy, yellow-boy

    Descendants

    * Irish English: boyo * Vietnamese:

    Interjection

    (en interjection)
  • Exclamation of surprise, pleasure or longing.
  • Verb

    (en verb)
  • to use the word boy to refer to someone
  • to act as a boy (qualifier, in allusion to the former practice of boys acting women's parts on the stage)
  • * Shakespeare
  • I shall see some squeaking Cleopatra boy my greatness.

    See also

    * girl, man (antonyms in some senses) * *

    References

    *

    Statistics

    *

    Anagrams

    * * 1000 English basic words ----

    chap

    English

    Etymology 1

    Shortened from in 16th century English.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (dated, outside, UK, and, Australia) A man, a fellow.
  • *
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage=A chap named Eleazir Kendrick and I had chummed in together the summer afore and built a fish-weir and shanty at Setuckit Point, down Orham way. For a spell we done pretty well.}}
  • *{{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
  • , chapter=20 citation , passage=‘No. I only opened the door a foot and put my head in. The street lamps shine into that room. I could see him. He was all right. Sleeping like a great grampus. Poor, poor chap .’}}
  • (UK, dialectal) A customer, a buyer.
  • * Steele
  • If you want to sell, here is your chap .
  • (Southern US) A child.
  • Usage notes
    This word's existence in the US can be seen in the Pennsylvania German term .
    Synonyms
    * See also
    Derived terms
    * chappie * chappo

    Etymology 2

    Related to chip .

    Verb

    (chapp)
  • Of the skin, to split or flake due to cold weather or dryness.
  • To cause to open in slits or chinks; to split; to cause the skin of to crack or become rough.
  • * Blackmore
  • Then would unbalanced heat licentious reign, / Crack the dry hill, and chap the russet plain.
  • * Lyly
  • Nor winter's blast chap her fair face.
  • (Scotland, northern England) To strike, knock.
  • * 2008 , (James Kelman), Kieron Smith, Boy , Penguin 2009, page 35:
  • The door was shut into my class. I had to chap it and then Miss Rankine came and opened it and gived me an angry look [...].
    Derived terms
    * chapped * chapstick

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A cleft, crack, or chink, as in the surface of the earth, or in the skin.
  • (obsolete) A division; a breach, as in a party.
  • * T. Fuller
  • Many clefts and chaps in our council board.
  • (Scotland) A blow; a rap.
  • Derived terms
    * chappy

    Etymology 3

    From Northern English .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (archaic) The jaw (often in plural).
  • *1610 , , by Shakespeare
  • This wide-chapp'd rascal—would thou might'st lie drowning / The washing of ten tides!
  • * Cowley
  • His chaps were all besmeared with crimson blood.
  • * Shakespeare
  • He unseamed him from the nave to the chaps .
  • One of the jaws or cheeks of a vice, etc.
  • See also

    * chaps

    Anagrams

    *