to work, labour, do a day's work; to train (for something), work on (something), study, improve (on something)
“Il n’y a jamais eu autant de jobistes en Belgique. La conséquence d’un assouplissement de la législation ces dix dernières années face à la pénurie dans certains secteurs. Mais qui sont ces étudiants-travailleurs et pourquoi sacrifient-ils leur été, et de plus en plus l’année entière, à bosser ?” — There have never been so many working students in Belgium. The consequence of a relaxation of legislation over the last ten years in the face of shortages in certain sectors. But who are these student workers and why do they sacrifice their summer, and increasingly the entire year, to work?
Synonyms: travailler, potasser, réviser, entraîner, bûcher
First attested in 1878. Probably from bosse + -er (see below) with some sort of semantic shift. It has been suggested that in western France, the verb came to mean "to bend over for work"; alternately, that sailors raising an anchor was considered typical "hard work", or that the word came from the sense of "to emboss" and was originally cant used by artisans.