Obs. Sc. Also 4 bose, 5–7 boce. [Origin obscure: cf. OF. busse cask; also Du. bus ‘box,’ bos (orig. the same) ‘package, bundle, truss.’]
1. A cask; esp. a small cask; a leathern butt or bottle for wine, etc.
c. 1375. ? Barbour, St. Cecile, 532. I cane wele find Þi poweste lik a bose, of wynd Þat fillit ware.
1489. Act. Dom. Conc., 129 (Jam.). Twa chalder of mele out of a boce … thre malvysy bocis price of the pece viiis. vid.
c. 1505. Dunbar, Friars of Berwik, 157. Haif thair ane pair of bossis, gud and fyne Thay hald ane gallone full of Gascone wyne.
1552. Lyndesay, Monarche, 2579. Thocht sum of ȝow be gude of conditione, Reddy for to ressaue new recent wyne, I speik to ȝow auld bosis [v.r. boisis bossis] of perditione.
c. 1565. R. Lindsay, Chron. Scotl. (1728), 82. To send for two bosses of wine … The bosses were of the quantity of two gallons the piece.
c. 1570. Leg. Bp. St. Andrews, in Scot. Poems 16th C., II. 338. Tua leathering bosses he hes bought.
c. 1600. Burel, in Watson, Coll. Poems, II. 26 (Jam.). Cryis … As wind within a boce.
2. Old boss: a term of contempt applied to persons (Sc.). Cf. sense 1, quot. 1552. [But it may be a distinct word: cf. ON. bossi, Sw. buss fellow. See discussion in Jamieson.]
1566. Knox, Hist. Ref. (1732), 34 (Jam.). Hay Dean of Restalrig, and certane auld bosses with him. Ibid., Wks. 1846, I. 127. The Bischope preached to his jackmen, and to some old bosses of the toune.
