BOSS, noun

/bɒs/
Forms:
Also Boss, B.O.S.S.
historical
Acronym formed on the initial letters of Bureau of (or for) State Security, a government agency set up in 1969 for the administration of national security. Also attributive.
Note:
Having become discredited, BOSS was replaced in 1978 by the Department of National Security (see DONS), and in February 1980 by the National Intelligence Service (see NIS). The security function has since been incorporated into the South African Police.
1969 S. Uys in J. Crwys-Williams S. Afr. Despatches (1989) 395Explaining with almost child-like simplicity to his Worcester audience the implications of the Bureau for State Security (BOSS), Dr. Hertzog said: ‘If one of BOSS’s authorised officials in Worcester is cross with you, he can lock you up for as long as he likes.’
1969 O. Musi in Post 15 June 14You’ve probably read about B.O.S.S. The letters stand for the Bureau of State Security.
1971 Rand Daily Mail 16 Mar. 10Public servants and nationalist politicians had become alarmed about the activities of BOSS, which they felt was developing into a ‘super political police force’.
1972 Sunday Times 27 Feb. 4General van den Bergh objects to being called the boss of BOSS. His organisation, he says, is the Bureau for State Security, and not of State Security, so he is not going to play speaks any more with newspapers which use the word BOSS.
1973 P. Driscoll Wilby Conspiracy 127‘BOSS’. Numbly he repeated the silly-sounding acronym. The Bureau of State Security, the powerful and faceless organization that controlled intelligence and secret police work.
1985 J. Esmond in Staffrider Vol.6 No.2, 26It was a standing joke that if you yawned at a meeting Boss would have a photograph of all your fillings.
1990 A. Goldstuck Rabbit in Thorn Tree 33In the 1970’s..the notorious Bureau of State Security, or BOSS, was a byword for ‘Big Brother’ watching us.
1993 J. Turner on Radio South Africa 28 Apr. (Radio Today)It seems more likely that it would have been BOSS if he had been killed by a hit squad. He had been harrassed by BOSS and the Security Police.
Acronym formed on the initial letters of Bureau of (or for) State Security, a government agency set up in 1969 for the administration of national security. Also attributive.
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boslemmer, nounn.boss-boy, nounn.
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