straw boss

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Related to straw boss: straw man, canebrake

straw boss

n. Informal

A worker who acts as a boss or crew leader in addition to performing regular duties.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

straw′ boss`

a member of a work crew, as in a factory or logging camp, who acts as a boss; assistant foreman.

[1890–95, Amer.]

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Noun

straw boss - a member of a work gang who supervises the other workers

assistant foreman

boss, foreman, honcho, chief, gaffer - a person who exercises control over workers; "if you want to leave early you have to ask the foreman"

straw boss

noun

Informal. Someone who directs and supervises workers:

boss, director, foreman, foreperson, forewoman, head, manager, overseer, superintendent, supervisor, taskmaster, taskmistress.

Slang: chief.

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References in periodicals archive ?

A little time in the neighborhood swimming pool revealed that, when the fly slowly settles, the "wings" lend a back-and-forth tilting motion--the signature move of the Straw Boss.

The straw boss: a freshwater pattern proves deadly in the salt

She had worked as a straw boss at Ellison's bean fields in Pleasant Hill.

OBITUARIES

They are paid in cash, live together in rentals set up under the contractor's name (usually 5-15 per one-room apartment), are given a licensed van for transport, and are set up with an interpreter who is also a "straw boss." They work seven days a week, 12-16 hours a day, framing houses, landscaping, handling and finishing drywall, pouting concrete, and doing any other blue-collar (once good paying) jobs they can get.