boot1
/buːt
/noun
1A sturdy item of footwear covering the foot and ankle, and sometimes also the lower leg: a pair of walking boots...
- This winter's stylish footwear, from ankle boots to sneakers, will have you praying for more days of snowfall.
- You will need to wear sturdy footwear, preferably boots, old warm clothes including waterproofs, and bring a packed lunch.
- She was wearing a white dress, which came pass her knees; she wore no sandals, boots, or footwear of any kind.
Synonyms
gumboot, wellington, wader, walking boot, riding boot, field boot, jackboot, thigh boot, half-boot, ankle boot, pixie boot, Chelsea boot, balmoral, desert boot, moon boot, snow boot;
galosh, overshoe;
football boot
informal welly, bovver boot
British informal beetle-crusher
trademark Doc Martens
historical buskin, napoleon, top boot
1.1A covering to protect the lower part of a horse’s leg.Horse boots and bandages are a category that has been increased as equestrians are requesting more specialized products....
- After unloading Frankie from the float, she gave him one last brush, then put his saddle, bridle and boots on.
- These boots are essential for horses competing in stressful events such as barrel racing, show jumping, cross country jumping, etc.
1.2 historical An instrument of torture encasing and crushing the foot.In Hugo's novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame, the character of Esmeralda is tortured using the boot....
- Alternatively, the boot could be filled with cool water and then heated over a fire.
- Sometimes the boot was heated until red hot during interrogation, a reference to this practice is found in Grimm's fairytales.
1.3US short for Denver boot.
2 informal A hard kick: he got a boot in the stomach
Synonyms
kick, blow, knock
3British An enclosed space at the back of a car for carrying luggage or other goods.The boot space takes the luggage of a family of four, excluding quad bikes....
- I've made ample use of the boot space itself, and even managed to squeeze a dining table and four chairs in the back, which was rather impressive.
- Plus there's a colossal boot, loads of space inside, extremely comfortable seats and a genuine sense of quality.
4 (also boot-up) [usually as modifier] The process of starting a computer and putting it into a state of readiness for operation: a boot disk...
- As you can probably tell by the loud buzzing and whirring sounds your computer makes when you turn it on, the boot-up process puts a lot of strain on your system.
- It's like setting Windows in hibernation mode so that it doesn't have to go through the entire boot-up process when it's called upon.
- It includes a system monitoring tool and utilities to change the boot-up image and to update the BIOS.
verb [with object]
1 [with object and adverbial of direction] Kick (something) hard in a specified direction: he ended up booting the ball into the stand...
- They shoved the door open - kicking it, booting it, shoving three or four times, and as they shoved the door open I put the knife through the gap.
- When York kicked off by booting the ball straight out and then giving away a first-minute penalty for offside, things looked bleak.
- Each time she missed, Jesse taunted her again, until Amber was so angry with him that she booted it the hardest she ever had.
Synonyms
kick, punt, bunt, strike with the foot, tap;
propel, drive, knock, send;
Scottish blooter
1.1 (boot someone off) informal Force someone to leave a vehicle unceremoniously: a guard booted two children off a train...
- Nikko does have a lot of fans, and there were a lot of people who thought that he had been booted off too early.
- Not to worry, we can stay here until they boot us off.
- He sat next to her on the bed, nervous of whether she'd boot him off or not.
1.2 (boot someone out) informal Force someone to leave a place or job unceremoniously: she had been booted out of school...
- If they break the law they will be booted out of the country.
- Firms hired to improve hygiene will be told to clean up their act - or they will be booted out.
- Once in, the members must follow certain protocols of interaction (either directly or indirectly enforced) or they are booted out.
2Start (a computer) and put it into a state of readiness for operation: the menu will be ready as soon as you boot up your computer [no object]: the system won’t boot from the original drive...
- Instead of booting from the hard disk, your computer will now boot from the floppy and a menu will appear.
- Then the infected floppy disks may infect other computers that boot from them, and the virus copy on the hard disk will try to infect still more floppies.
- You have to hit the Connect button before you boot up your computer.
Synonyms
start up, fire up, prepare, ready, make ready
From bootstrap (sense 2 of the noun)
3US Place a wheel clamp on (an illegally parked car): once a car is booted, the owner must pay all fines plus a fee to have the boot removed...
- At the time I was booted, I was parked legitimately.
- Vehicles that block dumpsters will be subject to being booted and/or towed.
- If any number of tickets are not paid within 30 days of being issued, the vehicle will be booted.
Phrases
the boot (or shoe) is on the other foot
boots and all
boots on the ground
die with one's boots on
get the boot
give someone the boot
old boot
put the boot in (or into someone)
with one's heart in one's boots
you (can) bet your boots
Derivatives
booted
/ adjectivesense 1 of the noun, sense 3 of the noun. ...- The booted woman and her barefoot companion
- I am taken by surprise by a booted foot as it slams into the back of my head.
- The plank under her booted feet groaned in protest.
Origin
Middle English: from Old Norse bóti or its source, Old French bote, of unknown ultimate origin.
Rhymes
boot2
/buːt/noun (in phrase to boot)
As well; in addition: she was a woman of uninspiring appearance and a dreadful bore to boot...
- It is therefore a building of great historical importance, and a beautiful building to boot.
- Oh, and there's a gardener's cottage at the back of the building to boot.
- We don't know where our next broadband is coming from, and I'm off work until the middle of next week, to boot.
Synonyms
as well, also, too, besides, into the bargain, in addition, additionally, on top (of that), over and above that, what's more, moreover, furthermore;
North American in the bargain
informal and all
archaic withal, forbye
Origin
Old English bōt 'advantage, remedy', of Germanic origin; related to Dutch boete and German Busse 'penance, fine', also to better1 and best.