smarty-bootsn.adj.
/ˈsmɑːtɪbuːts/, U.S. /ˈsmɑrdiˌbuts/ British colloquial.
A. n.
= smarty-pants n.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > intelligence, cleverness > sharpness, shrewdness, insight > would-be clever person > [noun]
clever-boots1847
smarty1847
smart alec1864
clever-clogs1866
clever-sides1886
clever Dick1895
wise guy1896
wisenheimer1904
smarty-pants1935
quiz kid1940
smart apple1940
smarty-boots1950
smart-ass1958
slick1959
clever-sticks1964
smart-arse1965
wise-ass1971
1950 F. MacManus Fire in Dust vi. 111 ‘Mister Smarty-boots,’ she snapped, and waddling over to me, looked up into my face.
1962 John o' London's 22 Nov. 467/1 A cold, well-bred English smarty-boots.
2004 M. Petty in Slightly Foxed Winter 14 When I was at the grammar school, I belonged to a small coterie of young smartyboots whose parents took the Observer.
B. adj.
= smarty-pants adj.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > intelligence, cleverness > sharpness, shrewdness, insight > would-be clever person > [adjective]
smarty1850
smart alec1877
clever-clever1896
wise guy1920
slick1921
smarty-pants1932
wisenheimer1937
smart-ass1951
smart-assed1957
smart-arsed1962
smarty-boots1962
smart-arse1965
wise-assed1967
wise-ass1971
1962 Times 7 June 16/3 The phoney-ness of a smarti-boots Ivy League undergraduate.
1979 Guardian 12 Nov. 13/7 I am not trying to be wilfully iconoclastic or smarty-boots when I say that..Picasso simply is not the greatest painter of the 20th century.
2006 Daily Mail (Nexis) 14 Mar. 14 This is exactly the sort of silly gesture one might expect from a smarty-boots young PR man.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2013; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.adj.1950