Evidently his feet did not go all the way down; the boots must have been stuffed with something so that he would seem taller.
Bachmann, Susan (editor) & Barth, Melinda Between Worlds: A Reader, Rhetoric and Handbook (1995)
All related terms of 'the boot'
get the boot
to lose your job
put the boot in
If someone puts the boot in , they attack another person by saying something cruel , often when the person is already feeling weak or upset .
get/be given the boot
If you get the boot or are given the boot , you are told that you are not wanted any more, either in your job or by someone you are having a relationship with.
the boot is on the other foot
said to mean that a situation has been changed completely, so that the people who were previously in a better position are now in a worse one, while the people who were previously in a worse position are now in a better one
the boot/shoe is on the other foot
If you say , in British English, the boot is on the other foot or, mainly in American English, the shoe is on the other foot , you mean that a situation has been reversed completely, so that the person who was in the better position before is now in the worse one.
put the boot into someone or something
to criticize a person or thing very severely or be very unkind about them