boot

1 of 5

noun (1)

ˈbüt 

1

archaic : deliverance

2

: something to equalize a trade

3

obsolete : avail

boot

2 of 5

verb (1)

booted; booting; boots

archaic

: avail, profit

boot

3 of 5

noun (2)

plural boots

1

: a fitted covering (as of leather or rubber) for the foot that usually reaches above the ankle

2

: an instrument of torture used to crush the leg and foot

3

: something that resembles or is likened to a boot

especially : an enclosing or protective casing or sheath (as for a rifle or over an electrical or mechanical connection)

4

: a navy or marine corps recruit undergoing basic training

5

British : an automobile trunk

6

a

: a kick with the foot

b

: summary dismissal

—used with the

gave him the boot

c

: momentary pleasure or enjoyment : bang

got a big boot out of the joke

7

: a sheath enclosing the inflorescence

8

: denver boot

9

: the act of booting or rebooting a computer or the process by which a computer is booted see boot entry 4 sense 5b

A cold boot is starting up a computer whose power has been turned off. A warm boot involves restarting the system while it is running …

—J. D. Biersdorfer

—often used before another noun

a boot disk

boot

4 of 5

verb (2)

booted; booting; boots

transitive verb

1

: to put boots on

2

a

: kick

b

: to eject or discharge summarily

—often used with out

was booted out of office

3

: to make an error on (a grounder in baseball)

broadly : botch

4

: to ride (a horse) in a race

booted home three winners

5

a

: to load (a program) into a computer from a disk

b

: to start or ready for use especially by booting a program

boot a computer

—often used with up

intransitive verb

1

: to become loaded into a computer's memory from a disk

the program boots automatically

2

: to become ready for use especially by booting a program

the computer boots quickly

—often used with up

bootable

ˈbü-tə-bəl 

adjective

boot

5 of 5

noun (3)

archaic

: booty, plunder

Phrases

to boot

: besides

Synonyms

Noun (2)

• bang
• charge
• exhilaration
• frisson
• jollies
• kick
• rush
• thrill
• titillation
• wallop

Verb (2)

• blow
• bobble
• boggle
• bollix (up)
• botch
• bugger (up)
• bumble
• bungle
• butcher
• dub
• flub
• fluff
• foozle
• foul up
• fumble
• goof (up)
• louse up
• mangle
• mess (up)
• muck up
• muff
• murder
• screw up

Examples of boot in a Sentence

Noun (2)

the fans got a real boot out the team's lopsided victory over its longtime rivals

Verb (2)

he booted the answer of what should have been an easy question

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Instead, Lopez sported daring black military-style ankle boots with thick rubber soles, a nod to bold fashion-forward businesswear. —Jamie L. Lareau, Detroit Free Press, 5 Nov. 2024

Everyone from celebrities to teens seems to be wearing these mini chestnut-colored boots right now. —Jessica Kasparian, SELF, 5 Nov. 2024

Verb

State regulators, meanwhile, have rarely used a mechanism in their disposal to boot abusive employers from bringing migrant workers. —Sam Tabachnik, The Denver Post, 1 Nov. 2024

State lawmakers booted the TSU board and upended the university's search for a new president following a series of withering audits that described widespread mismanagement by top administrators. —Adam Tamburin, Axios, 30 Oct. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Noun (1)

Middle English bot, bote "advantage, good, relief, deliverance, redemption, amends, cure," Old English bōt "a making good, repair, relief, deliverance, remedy, improvement, atonement, penance, compensation," going back to Germanic *botō "improvement" — more at better entry 1

Note: Though its Old and Middle English predecessors were common nouns with numerous senses, boot now occurs rarely outside of the idiom to boot. This phrase is attested in the sense "to the advantage (of someone)" in Middle English ("to youre bote") and hence was generalized to "as an extra thing, into the bargain" and then "in addition, moreover."

Verb (1)

Middle English boten "to cure, relieve, add to equalize the value of things exchanged, be of use, avail," probably in part derivative of bot, bote "advantage, good, relief," in part going back to Old English botian "to recover from ill health, keep in repair," derivative of bōt "a making good, repair, relief" — more at boot entry 1

Noun (2)

(senses 1-8) Middle English bote, bot, boot, borrowed from Anglo-French bote (also continental Old French bote, botte), of uncertain origin; (sense 9) noun derivative of boot entry 4, sense 5

Note: The French word is traced to a putative Germanic base *butt- "blunt" in Französisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, along with a diverse group of phonetically similar words, but both the semantic and phonetic assumptions are questionable.

Verb (2)

(senses 1-4) Middle English boten "to put boots on," derivative of bote, bot boot entry 3; (sense 5) short for bootstrap in sense "to perform a bootstrap operation," derivative of bootstrap entry 2

Noun (3)

shortened from booty entry 1, perhaps by association with boot entry 1

First Known Use

Noun (1)

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb (1)

15th century, in the meaning defined above

Noun (2)

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb (2)

15th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Noun (3)

1598, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing boot

• boot camp
• car boot sale
• cowboy boot
• Denver boot
• gum boot
• half boot
• Hessian boot
• hip boot
• hobnail boot
• jump boot
• rubber boot
• ski boot
• the boot is on the other foot
• top boot
• to put the boot in

Video

Some Odd Words with ISMO: "Junk in the Trunk"

Comedian ISMO on what separates a boot from a trunk

Kids Definition

boot

1 of 3 noun

ˈbüt 

chiefly dialect

: something given to make a trade equal

boot

2 of 3 noun

1

: a covering usually of leather or rubber for the foot and part of the leg

2

a

: kick entry 2 sense 1a

b

: a rude dismissal or discharge

—used with the

3

: a new member of the Navy or Marine Corps while in boot camp

boot

3 of 3 verb

1

: to put boots on

2

a

: kick entry 1 sense 1

b

: to get rid of or dismiss rudely

—often used with out

was booted out of the office

3

a

: to load (a program) into a computer from a disk

b

: to start or make ready for use especially by booting a program

boot a computer

Etymology

Noun

Old English bōt "remedy"

Noun

Middle English boot "a covering for the foot"

Legal Definition

boot

noun

: additional money or property received to make up the difference in an exchange of business or investment property that is of like kind but unequal in value

Note: Under Internal Revenue Code section 1031, no tax liability results from an exchange solely of like-kind property used in a business or trade or held for investment. If the exchange includes boot, however, under section 1245 the boot will be treated as ordinary income.

Etymology

Noun

obsolete or dialect boot compensation, from Old English bōt advantage, compensation