Boy's Own
- adjective
- Archaic
:
aventurero
- His summer was filled with thrilling escapades that felt like a real Boy's Own adventure.
- Boy's Own adventure
Examples
-
Scientific advisors to the Home Office rarely get a chance to take part in Special Branch operations, and I always knew that it would be my first and last opportunity to be part of a real Boy's Own adventure.
Fiction book (2000) -
He wasn't thinking Boy's Own adventures; he was thinking Reality is What You Can Get Away With.
Fiction book (2000) -
It was hopeless, but it was my one and only Boy's Own adventure, and I hadn't been trained to an adequate sense
Fiction book (2000) -
Climbing the highest mountain in the region was just the kind of Boy's Own experience he had always dreamed of.
-
After a week of camping and hiking, they returned home, having shared countless Boy's Own stories of their exhilarating journey.
How Adventurous
Surface Forms
Morphology
Boy's + own
Literally the components 'boy's' (possessive) + 'own' suggest possession, so a learner who knows the words might infer something belonging to boys. However the conventional sense 'Boy's Own' as an adjective signalling a specific adventurous/nostalgic story-type (from the culture‑bound Boy's Own tradition) is a specialized, idiomatic stylistic meaning that goes beyond simple composition and requires cultural exposure.
Etymology
Boy's Own may come from an old magazine called The Boy's Own Paper that printed exciting adventure stories for boys with daring heroes and dangerous journeys. So, when we call something Boy's Own today, we mean it feels 'adventurous' and 'brave'.