boss vs figure

boss

verb
  • To decorate with bosses; to emboss. 

  • To exercise authoritative control over; to tell (someone) what to do, often repeatedly. 

noun
  • Wife. 

  • An enemy, often at the end of a level, that is particularly challenging and must be beaten in order to progress. 

  • A swelling, lump or protuberance in an animal, person or object. 

  • A convex protuberance in hammered work, especially the rounded projection in the centre of a shield. 

  • A wooden vessel for the mortar used in tiling or masonry, hung by a hook from the laths, or from the rounds of a ladder. 

  • A knob or projection, usually at the intersection of ribs in a vault. 

  • A person in charge of a business or company. 

  • A protrusion, frequently a cylinder of material that extends beyond a hole. 

  • A lump-like mass of rock, especially one projecting through a stratum of different rock. 

  • A target block, made of foam but historically made of hay bales, to which a target face is attached. 

  • A term of address to a man. 

  • A head or reservoir of water. 

  • A leader, the head of an organized group or team. 

  • A person who oversees and directs the work of others; a supervisor. 

  • The head of a political party in a given region or district. 

adj
  • Of excellent quality, first-rate. 

figure

verb
  • To embellish with design; to adorn with figures. 

  • To represent by a metaphor; to signify or symbolize. 

  • To write over or under the bass, as figures or other characters, in order to indicate the accompanying chords. 

  • To calculate, to solve a mathematical problem. 

  • To enter into; to be a part of. 

  • To think, to assume, to suppose, to reckon. 

  • To embellish. 

  • To come to understand. 

  • To be reasonable. 

noun
  • A visible pattern as in wood or cloth. 

  • A number, an amount. 

  • A drawing or diagram conveying information. 

  • A human figure, which dress or corset must fit to; the shape of a human body. 

  • A form of melody or accompaniment kept up through a strain or passage; a motif; a florid embellishment. 

  • The form of a syllogism with respect to the relative position of the middle term. 

  • A figure of speech. 

  • The appearance or impression made by the conduct or career of a person. 

  • A person or thing representing a certain consciousness. 

  • A numeral. 

  • A horoscope; the diagram of the aspects of the astrological houses. 

  • Any short succession of notes, either as melody or as a group of chords, which produce a single complete and distinct impression. 

  • The representation of any form, as by drawing, painting, modelling, carving, embroidering, etc.; especially, a representation of the human body. 

  • A shape. 

  • Any complex dance moveᵂ. 

How often have the words boss and figure occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )