bootsn.1
/buːts/, U.S. /buts/ 1. A name for the servant in hotels who cleans the boots; formerly called boot-catcher and boot-catch.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > subjection > service > servant > personal or domestic servant > domestic servant > [noun] > shoe or boot-cleaner > in an hotel
boots1785
Jack boots1795
1785 J. O'Keeffe Fontainbleau iii. i. 49 Your honour will remember the waiter..And de jack a de boots your honour.
1836 C. Dickens Sketches by Boz 1st Ser. II. 218 I'm the boots as b'longs to the house.
1856 W. Collins Stolen Letter in After Dark 109 I waited in the pantry till Boots had brushed the clothes.
2. (slang.) An appellation given to the youngest officer in a regiment, junior member of a club, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > person > young person > [noun]
youngeOE
younglingOE
girlc1300
youtha1325
young onec1384
birdc1405
young person1438
young blood1557
primrosea1568
slip1582
juvenal1598
quat1607
airling1611
egga1616
saplinga1616
chita1657
a slip of a girla1660
juvenile1733
young adult1762
boots1806
snip1838
spring chicken1857
yob1859
kid1884
chiseller1922
juvenile adult1926
YA1974
yoof1986
1806 Sir R. Wilson in Life (1862) I. ii. 60 My chief resistance to discipline was at mess where I could not brook the duties of Boots.
3. In various combinations (humorous or colloquial) = ‘Fellow, person’: as clumsy-boots, lazy-boots; see also sly-boots n., smooth-boots n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > person > [noun]
hadc900
lifesmaneOE
maneOE
world-maneOE
ghostOE
wyeOE
lifeOE
son of manOE
wightc1175
soulc1180
earthmanc1225
foodc1225
person?c1225
creaturec1300
bodyc1325
beera1382
poppetc1390
flippera1400
wat1399
corsec1400
mortal?a1425
deadly?c1450
hec1450
personagec1485
wretcha1500
human1509
mundane1509
member1525
worma1556
homo1561
piece of flesh1567
sconce1567
squirrel?1567
fellow creature1572
Adamite1581
bloat herringa1586
earthling1593
mother's child1594
stuff1598
a piece of flesh1600
wagtail1607
bosom1608
fragment1609
boots1623
tick1631
worthy1649
earthlies1651
snap1653
pippin1665
being1666
personal1678
personality1678
sooterkin1680
party1686
worldling1687
human being1694
water-wagtail1694
noddle1705
human subject1712
piece of work1713
somebody1724
terrestrial1726
anybody1733
individual1742
character1773
cuss1775
jig1781
thingy1787
bod1788
curse1790
his nabs1790
article1796
Earthite1814
critter1815
potato1815
personeityc1816
nibs1821
somebody1826
tellurian1828
case1832
tangata1840
prawn1845
nigger1848
nut1856
Snooks1860
mug1865
outfit1867
to deliver the goods1870
hairpin1879
baby1880
possum1894
hot tamale1895
babe1900
jobbie1902
virile1903
cup of tea1908
skin1914
pisser1918
number1919
job1927
apple1928
mush1936
face1944
jong1956
naked ape1965
oke1970
punter1975
1623 R. Percyvall Bibliotheca Hispanica Lisongero, a flatterer, a smooth boots.
1832 E. Bulwer-Lytton Eugene Aram I. i. ii. 38 Why don't you rise, Mr. Lazyboots?
1865 C. Dickens Our Mutual Friend II. iv. xi. 250 You are the most creasing and tumbling Clumsy-Boots of a packer.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1887; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
† bootsn.2
Obsolete or dialect.
A local English name of marsh marigold ( Caltha palustris) or meadow bouts.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular cultivated or ornamental plants > particular flower or plant esteemed for flower > [noun] > buttercup and allied flowers > marsh marigold
kingcup1538
petty nenuphar1548
bassinet1578
brave celandine1578
marsh marigold1578
boots1597
caltha1599
mareblob1649
water boot1665
horse-blob1821
water-blob1821
molly-blob1854
May-blob1863
drunkard1886
1597 J. Gerard Herball ii. 681 [671] Marsh Marigoldes, in Cheshire and those parts it is called Bootes.
1721 N. Bailey Universal Etymol. Eng. Dict. Boots, the Plant Marshmallows [An error].
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1887; most recently modified version published online September 2021).
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