ˈbäzˌwel, -_wəl noun
( -s )
Usage: usually capitalized
Etymology: after James Boswell died 1795 Scottish lawyer and biographer; from the wealth of firsthand detail in Boswell's life (1791) of Samuel Johnson died 1784 English lexicographer, critic, and conversationalist
1.
a. : one who out of admiration or hero worship records in detail and usually contemporaneously the life, conversation, intimate moods, and personal relationships especially of a famous or otherwise significant contemporary
a Boswell to a man of letters
b. : one who writes with love for and intimate knowledge of any subject
a Boswell of the sea
nature's Boswell
2. : one who stays in almost constant attendance upon another out of great admiration or hero worship, often in a voluntarily servile position
a faithful and mistreated Boswell