[Ads-l] boss (top enemy in a level/game in gaming)

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

There is also a Wikipedia article which states:

[Begin excerpt]
The first interactive game to feature a boss was [dnd [ (video game)|]
dnd], a 1975 role-playing video game for the PLATO system.
[End excerpt]

The "boss" was a high-level enemy named the Gold Dragon. To win the
game the player was required to defeat the Gold Dragon and claim the
orb which the creature was guarding. Thus, a computer game character
functioning as a "boss" existed in 1975, but the label "boss" was not
coined until later (according to currently known citations in the
Wiktionary article).

Boss (video gaming)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boss_(video_gaming)

The Wikipedia article has several other terms: boss battle, boss
fight, miniboss, middle boss, mid-boss, half-boss, sub-boss,
semi-boss, main boss, superboss, final boss, hidden boss, boss song.

Garson

On Fri, May 17, 2019 at 6:18 PM Barretts Mail <mail.barretts at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> 1980 is the earliest citation there. BB
>
> > On 17 May 2019, at 10:05, Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> >
> > On Fri, May 17, 2019 at 2:47 AM Barretts Mail <mail.barretts at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> >> Wiktionary (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/boss): An enemy, often at the
> >> end of a level, that is particularly challenging and must be beaten in
> >> order to progress.
> >>
> >
> > If you click on the "citations" tab, you'll find relevant examples going
> > back to the '80s, drawn from arcade manuals and such.
> >
> > https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Citations:boss
> >
> > --bgz
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org