See also: Boot and BOOT

English

 
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Boots, noun - etymology 1, definition 1

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Middle English boote, bote (shoe), from Old French bote (a high, thick shoe). Of obscure origin, but probably related to Old French bot (club-foot), bot (fat, short, blunt), from Old Frankish *butt, from Proto-Germanic *buttaz, *butaz (cut off, short, numb, blunt), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰewt-, *bʰewd- (to strike, push, shock); if so, a doublet of butt. Compare Old Norse butt (stump), Low German butt (blunt, plump), Old English bytt (small piece of land), buttuc (end). More at buttock and debut.

Noun

boot (plural boots)

  1. (footwear) A heavy shoe that covers part of the leg.
    1. (sports) A kind of sports shoe worn by players of certain games such as cricket and football.
  2. (uncountable) A blow with the foot; a kick.
  3. (construction) A flexible cover of rubber or plastic, which may be preformed to a particular shape and used to protect a shaft, lever, switch, or opening from dust, dirt, moisture, etc.
  4. (figurative, with definite article) Oppression, an oppressor.
    • 1958, Filmindia:
      Dr. Jayakar was not only one of them but was at places the prime mover in the historic decisions taken by a nation struggling to get free of the British boot.
    • 1989, Gilles Perrault, Pierre Azema, Paris Under the Occupation:
      Never in its long history, and one rich with brutal inequities too, had Paris known the disgrace of seeing one section of its community prosper under the boot of an invader
    • 2013 October 8, Stanley Weintraub, Young Mr. Roosevelt: FDR's Introduction to War, Politics, and Life, Hachette UK, →ISBN:
      Chronic unrest in Ireland, long under the British boot, was about to culminate in a popular rising.
  5. (usually preceded by definite article) A torture device used on the feet or legs, such as a Spanish boot.
    • 1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 221:
      The boot, thumbscrews, the shackles, and a contraption called the "warm hose", were only a few of the inflictions being too terrible to mention.
  6. (US, transport) A parking enforcement device used to immobilize a car until it can be towed or a fine is paid; a wheel clamp.
  7. (aviation) A rubber bladder on the leading edge of an aircraft’s wing, which is inflated periodically to remove ice buildup; a deicing boot.
  8. (obsolete) A place at the side of a coach, where attendants rode; also, a low outside place before and behind the body of the coach.
  9. (archaic) A place for baggage at either end of an old-fashioned stagecoach.
  10. (Australia, British, New Zealand, South Africa, automotive) The luggage storage compartment of a sedan or saloon car.
    • 1998, Ruth Rendell, A Sight For Sore Eyes, published 2010, page 260:
      He heaved the bag and its contents over the lip of the boot and on to the flagstones. When it was out, no longer in that boot but on the ground, and the bag was still intact, he knew the worst was over.
    • 2003, Keith Bluemel, Original Ferrari V-12 1965-1973: The Restorer's Guide, unnumbered page:
      The body is constructed of welded steel panels, with the bonnet, doors and boot lid in aluminium on steel frames.
    • 2008, MB Chattelle, Richmond, London: The Peter Hacket Chronicles, page 104:
      Peers leant against the outside of the car a lit up her filter tip and watched as Bauer and Putin placed their compact suitcases in the boot of the BMW and slammed the boot lid down.
  11. (informal, with definite article) The act or process of removing or firing someone (dismissing them from a job or other post).
    He was useless so he got the boot.
  12. (British, slang) An unattractive person, ugly woman.
    old boot
  13. (US, military, law enforcement, slang) A recently arrived recruit; a rookie.
  14. (slang, ethnic slur) A black person.
    • 1964 [1957], Colin MacInnes, City of Spades, London: Penguin Books, page 22:
      My Dad has taught me that in England some foolish man may call me sambo, darkie, boot or munt or nigger, even.
  15. (firearms) A hard plastic case for a long firearm, typically moulded to the shape of the gun and intended for use in a vehicle.
  16. (baseball) A bobbled ball.
  17. (botany) The inflated flag leaf sheath of a wheat plant.
  18. (slang) A linear amplifier used with CB radio.
    • 1977, New Scientist, volume 74, page 764:
      Because of overcrowding, many a CB enthusiast (called an "apple") is strapping an illegal linear amplifier ("boots") on to his transceiver ("ears") []
  19. (slang, motor racing) A tyre.
  20. (US) A crust end-piece of a loaf of bread.
    Synonyms: butt, heel
Synonyms
Derived terms
Descendants
  • Solombala English: бучь (bučʹ)
  • Russian: бутса (butsa)
  • Serbo-Croatian:
    Cyrillic script: бу́це
    Latin script: búce
  • Swahili: buti
Translations

Verb

boot (third-person singular simple present boots, present participle booting, simple past and past participle booted)

  1. (transitive) To kick.
    I booted the ball toward my teammate.
    You nearly booted me in the face!
    • 2017 January 14, “Thailand's new king rejects the army's proposed constitution”, in The Economist[1]:
      The one certainty is that the redrafting will delay by several months the general election that was supposed to be held at the end of this year. Mr Prayuth has implied that elections cannot now be held until after King Vajiralongkorn's coronation, which itself cannot take place until after his father's elaborate cremation, scheduled for October. All this boots the long-promised polls well into 2018.
  2. To put boots on, especially for riding.
    • 1641, Ben Jonson, Discoveries Made upon Men and Matter[2]:
      Coated and booted for it.
  3. (colloquial, Canada, US, usually with it) To step on the accelerator of a vehicle for faster acceleration than usual or to drive faster than usual.
    The storm is coming fast! Boot it!
    We had to boot it all the way there to get to our flight on time.
  4. (Can we verify(+) this sense?) To apply corporal punishment (compare slippering).
  5. (informal) To eject; kick out.
    We need to boot those troublemakers as soon as possible.
    The senator was booted from the committee for unethical behavior.
  6. (computing, informal) To disconnect forcibly; to eject from an online service, conversation, etc.
    • 2002, Dan Verton, The Hacker Diaries, page 67:
      As an IRC member with operator status, Swallow was able to manage who was allowed to remain in chat sessions and who got booted off the channel.
    • 2003, John C. Dvorak, Chris Pirillo, Online!, page 173:
      Even flagrant violators of the TOS are not booted.
    • 2002, Jobe Makar, Macromedia Flash Mx Game Design Demystified, page 544:
      In Electroserver, the kick command disconnects a user totally from the server and gives him a message about why he was booted.
  7. (slang) To vomit.
    Sorry, I didn’t mean to boot all over your couch.
  8. (MLE, criminal slang) To shoot, to kill by gunfire.
    • 2015 November 1, “Dem Man Know”, C4 (814) (lyrics):
      C4 run man through the alley
      Get a man down with the swammy
      Get a man down with the whammy
      Boot couple niggas on the road
      No face no case with the bally (booting)
Usage notes
  • The more common term for “to eject from a chatroom” etc. is kick.
Synonyms
  • (kick): hoof, kick
  • (disconnect from online conversation): kick
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English boote, bote, bot, from Old English bōt (help, relief, advantage), from Proto-West Germanic *bōtu, from Proto-Germanic *bōtō (atonement, improvement), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰed- (good).

Akin to Old Norse bót (bettering, remedy) (Danish bod), Gothic 𐌱𐍉𐍄𐌰 (bōta), German Buße. Doublet of bote (a borrowing from Middle English).

Noun

boot (countable and uncountable, plural boots)

  1. (archaic, dialectal) Remedy, amends.
  2. (uncountable) Profit, plunder.
  3. (countable, uncountable) That which is given to make an exchange equal, or to make up for the deficiency of value in one of the things exchanged; compensation; recompense.
    • c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies [] (First Folio), London: [] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene v]:
      I'll give you boot, I'll give you three for one.
    • 2008, Jeffrey H. Rattiner, Financial Planning Answer Book 2009, pages 6–43:
      If mortgaged property is transferred, the amount of the mortgage is part of the boot. If both parties to the transaction transfer mortgages to each other, the party giving up the larger debt treats the excess as taxable boot.
    • 2021, Eli Amir, Marco Ghitti, Financial Analysis of Mergers and Acquisitions, page 117:
      If the target retains the boot and uses it for, say, paying its debt, there is taxation on the boot.
  4. (obsolete) Profit; gain; advantage; use.
  5. (obsolete) Repair work; the act of fixing structures or buildings. [to mid-17th c.]
  6. (obsolete) A medicinal cure or remedy. [to mid-16th c.]
Derived terms
Translations

Verb

boot (third-person singular simple present boots, present participle booting, simple past and past participle booted) (archaic)

  1. (transitive or intransitive, impersonal) To be beneficial, to help.
  2. (intransitive, impersonal) To matter; to be relevant.
  3. (transitive, rare) To enrich.
Translations

Etymology 3

Clipping of bootstrap.

Noun

boot (plural boots)

  1. (computing) The act or process of bootstrapping; the starting or re-starting of a computing device.
    It took three boots, but I finally got the application installed.
Derived terms
terms derived from boot (computing)
Translations

Verb

boot (third-person singular simple present boots, present participle booting, simple past and past participle booted)

  1. (computing) To bootstrap; to start a system, e.g. a computer, by invoking its boot process or bootstrap.
    Synonyms: bootstrap, boot up, start
    Antonyms: shut down, stop, turn off
    When arriving at the office, the first thing I do is boot my machine.
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 4

From bootleg (to make or sell illegally), by shortening.

Noun

boot (plural boots)

  1. (informal) A bootleg recording.
    • 1999, Tom Fletcher, “Looking for Iron Maiden boot traders”, in alt.music.bootlegs (Usenet):
      I am looking to trade Iron Maiden boots. I have many Iron Maiden bootlegs. I have lots of Metallica. I trade CDR's, tapes and videos.
Translations

Anagrams

Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch boot.

Pronunciation

Noun

boot (plural bote)

  1. boat

References

  1. ^ 2007. The UCLA Phonetics Lab Archive. Los Angeles, CA: UCLA Department of Linguistics.

Bikol Central

Noun

boot

  1. Alternative spelling of buot

Chinese

Etymology

Borrowed from English boot.

Pronunciation

Noun

boot (Hong Kong Cantonese)

  1. boot (footwear) (Classifier: c)

Verb

boot (Hong Kong Cantonese)

  1. to boot; to boot up
    bootboot [Cantonese]  ―  but1 gei1 [Jyutping]  ―  (please add an English translation of this usage example)

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch boot, from Middle English bot (boat, ship), from Old English bāt, from Proto-West Germanic *bait, from Proto-Germanic *baitaz.

Pronunciation

Noun

boot m (plural boten, diminutive bootje n)

  1. boat
    We gaan dit weekend varen op onze nieuwe boot.
    We're going boating on our new boat this weekend.
    De vissers gebruikten hun kleine bootjes om de zee op te gaan.
    The fishermen used their small boats to go out to sea.
    Het eiland is alleen bereikbaar per boot of per helikopter.
    The island is only accessible by boat or helicopter.

Synonyms

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Descendants

Karao

Noun

boot

  1. mold

Mansaka

Etymology

From *buut, from Proto-Austronesian *buhet.

Noun

boot

  1. squirrel

Middle English

Etymology 1

Noun

boot

  1. Alternative form of bote (boot)

Etymology 2

Noun

boot

  1. Alternative form of bote (help, aid)

Etymology 3

Noun

boot

  1. Alternative form of bot (boat)

Portuguese

Alternative forms

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English boot. Doublet of bota.

Pronunciation

 

Noun

boot m (plural boots)

  1. (computing) boot (the act or process of bootstrapping)
    • 2008, Sistemas Operacionais com Java, Sistemas Operacionais com Java, Elsevier Brasil, →ISBN, page 311:
      As informações de boot podem ser armazenadas em uma partição separada. Mais uma vez, ela tem seu próprio formato, pois, no momento do boot, o sistema ainda não carregou drivers de dispositivo do sistema de arquivos e, por isso, não pode interpretar o formato do sistema de arquivos.
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)
  2. (Brazil, chiefly São Paulo, slang) sneaker
    • 2019, “Não Pisa no Meu Boot”, MC Caveirinha (lyrics), Wall Hein (music)‎[4]São Paulo: Cp9 Produtora, retrieved 2023-10-14:
      Pisa no meu coração, só não pisa no boot senão viro o bicho.
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Tetum

Adjective

boot

  1. big

Woleaian

Pronunciation

Noun

boot

  1. nose