shopboy

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   historical: a boy or young male assistant employed in a shop

   The shopboy carried the parcel to the customer's carriage.

Formed in English from shop + boy and recorded from the early seventeenth century. Boy could also denote a young servant or subordinate worker, so shopboy named a junior male employee in a shop. Gender-neutral shop assistant has largely replaced it.

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