boot 
boot 2 (bot), n. [< ME. boote, bote, < OF. bate, 
a boot, F. botte = Pr. Sp. Pg. bota (ML. bota, 
botta) (cf. Gael, bot, botuinn, prob. from E.), a 
boot; origin uncertain. Prob. not connected, 
as supposed, with OF. boiite, mod. F. bottc = 
It. botte (ML. butta, bota), a butt, cask, leathern 
vessel: see butt 3 .'] 1. A covering (usually 
of leather) for the foot 
and lower part of the leg, 
reaching as far up as the 
middle of the calf, and 
sometimes to the knee. 
In most styles the leg part 
keeps its place by its stiffness 
alone, although in certain fash- 
ions it has been laced around 
the calf. Boots seem to have 
appeared in Europe about the 
middle of the fifteenth century. 
They were not much worn at 
first, because persons of the 
wealthier classes, when abroad, 
were generally clad in armor. 
At the time of the gradual dis- 
appearance of armor very high 
boots of thick leather came into 
favor as covering for the legs, 
and by the sixteenth century 
they were already in common 
use. (See jack-boot.) Late in 
the eighteenth century boots 
became a usual part of elegant 
costume, and were made lighter 
and more close-fitting. In Eng- 
. land boots ceased to be common 
c. back ; d, strap ; ,, instep ; jn elegant cos t ume as early as 
1855, and about fifteen years 
Boot. 
A: a, front ; b t side-seam ; 
f, vamp, or front; sr, 
ter, or counter; h, rand ; i, 
heel, of which^thejront is the later they began to disappear in 
United States; but they are 
breast and the bottom the 
toe ; o, ball of sole. B (sec- 
tion) : a, upper; b, insole; c, 
outsole;rf,welt; e, stitching of 
the sole to the welt;/, stitch- 
Torture with the Boot. 
and occupations, as by horse- 
men, seamen, etc. 
ing of the upper to' the welt ; usage, also, any shoe or 
for the bieh'tfof'the sStches" Outer foot-COVCringwhich 
reaches above the ankle, 
whether for men or women: more properly 
called half-boot or ankle-boot. 3. An instru- 
ment of torture made of 
iron, or a combination 
of iron and wood, fas- 
tened on the leg, be- 
tween which and the 
boot wedges were in- 
troduced and driven in 
by repeated blows of a 
mallet, with such vio- 
lence as to crush both 
muscles and bones. The 
boots and thumb-screw were 
the special Scotch instru- 
ments for "putting to the 
question." A much milder 
variety consisted of a boot 
or buskin, made wet and 
drawn upon the legs and 
then dried by heat, so as to contract and squeeze the legs. 
The Scottish Privy Council had power to put state pris- 
oners to the question. But the sight was so dreadful that, 
as soon as the boots appeared, even the most servile and 
hard-hearted courtiers hastened out of the chamber. 
Macaulay. 
4. A protective covering for a horse's foot. 
5f. In the seventeenth century, a drinking- 
vessel : from the use of leathern jacks to drink 
from. 
To charge whole boots full to their friend's welfare. 
Bp. Hall, Satires, VI. i. 82. 
6. In ornith., a continuous or entire tarsal en- 
velop, formed by fusion of the tarsal scutella. 
It occurs chiefly in birds of the thrush and war- 
bler groups. See cut under booted. 7f. The 
fixed step on each side of a coach. 8f. An un- 
covered space on or by the steps on each side 
of a coach, allotted to the servants and atten- 
dants ; later, a low outside compartment, either 
between the coachman's box and the body of 
the coach or at the rear. 
The Infanta sat in the boot with a blue ribbon about 
her arm, of purpose that the Prince might distinguish her. 
Howell, Letters, I. iii. 15. 
His coach being come, he causeth him to be laid softly, 
and so, he in one boot and the two chirurgeons in the 
other, they drive away to the very next country-house. 
J. Reynolds. 
9. A receptacle for baggage in a coach, either 
under the seat of the coachman or under that 
of the guard, or, as in American stage-coaches, 
behind the body of the coach, covered by a flap 
of leather. 10. A leather apron attached to 
the dashboard of an open carriage and designed 
to be used as a protection from rain or mud. 
Balmoral boots. See Balmoral. Boots and saddles 
[An adaptation of F. boute-sellc., the signal to horse, < bonier 
selle, put the saddle on: bouter, put; sells, saddle: see 
butt' and sell?.] Milit., the first trmnpet-call for mounted 
drill or other formations mounted ; also, a signal for the 
628 
assembly of trumpeters. Clumsy-bOOts, an awkward, 
careless person. [Colloq.] 
You're the most creasing and tumbling cluinxy boots of 
a packer. Dickens, Our Mutual Friend, iv. 
Congress boots or gaiters, high shoes with elastic sides, 
by stretching which they are drawn on to the feet. Hes- 
sian boots, a kind of long boots, originally introduced in 
the uniform of Hessian troops. Salisbury boot, a car- 
riage-boot of rounded form, used chiefly in court vehicles. 
[Eng.] Skeleton boot, a carriage-boot framed with thin 
pieces of iron instead of wood, and supporting the driver's 
seat. Sly-boots, a cunning, artful person. To put the 
boot on the wrong leg, to give credit or blame to the 
wrong (tarty ; make a mistake in attribution. 
boot' 2 (bot). r. t. [< &oo<2, .] 1. To put boots 
on. 2. To torture with the boot. 3. To 
kick; drive by kicking: as, boot him out of the 
room. [Slang.] 4. To beat, formerly with a 
long jack-boot, now with a leather surcingle or 
waist-belt: an irregular conventional punish- 
ment inflicted by soldiers on a comrade guilty 
of dishonesty or shirking duty. N. E. D. [Eng. 
military slang.] 
boot 3 t (bot), n. [Appar. same as booft, used 
for booty ; or merely short for booty.'] Booty; 
spoil; plunder. 
Heavy laden with the spoyle 
Of harvest's riches, which he made his boot. 
Spenser, F. Q., VII. vli. 38. 
Like soldiers, [bees] armed in their stings, 
Make boot upon the summer's velvet buds. 
Shak., Hen. V., t. 2. 
A true Attic bee, he [Milton] made boot on every lip 
where there was a trace of truly classic honey. 
Lowell, Among my Books, 2d ser., p. 271. 
boot 4 t. Obsolete preterit of bite. 
Bootanese, . and n. See Bhutanese. 
boot-black (bo't'blak), n. One whose occupa- 
tion is to clean and black boots and shoes. 
Also called shoe-black. 
boot-catchert (bot'kach"er), n. The person at 
an inn whose business was to pull off boots and 
clean them ; a boots. 
The ostler and the boot-catcher ought to partake. 
Swtft, Advice to Servants. 
boot-clamp (bot'klamp), n. A device for hold- 
ing a boot so that it can be sewed. 
boot-closer (bot'klo"zer), n. One who sews to- 
gether the upper leathers of boots or shoes. 
boot-crimp (bot'krimp), n. A frame or last 
used by bootmakers for drawing and shaping 
the body of a boot. 
boot-cuff (bot'kuf ), n. A form of cuff worn in 
England in the eighteenth century. See cuff. 
booted (bo 'ted), a. [< boot 2 , 
v., + -ed 2 .] 1. Having boots on ; 
equipped with boots ; especially, 
equipped for riding : as, booted 
and spurred; "a booted judge," 
Dryden. 2. Inornith.: (a) Hav- 
ing the tarsi covered with fea- 
thers; braccate: as, the booted 
eagle. See cut under braccate. 
(b) Having the tarsi enveloped 
in a boot, that is, not divided 
along the acrotarsium, or having 
only a few scales or scutella near 
the toes ; holotheeal ; ocreate : 
as, a booted tarsus. See boot 2 , 6. 
bootee 1 (bo-te'), . [< 600*2 + 
dim. -ee.~\ A trade-name for a 
half or short boot for women. 
bootee 2 (bo'te), n. [E. Ind.] A 
white, spotted Dacca muslin. 
Bootes (bo-6'tez), . [L., < Gr. ftourr/f, a name 
given to the constellation containing Arcturus, 
lit. an ox-driver, plowman, < ftovi;, an ox.] A 
northern constellation 
containing the bright 
star Arcturus, and situ- 
ated behind the Great 
Bear. It is supposed to 
represent a man holding a 
crook and driving the Bear. 
In modern times the constel- 
lation of the Hounds has been 
interposed between Bootes 
and the Bear. 
booth (both), n. [=Sc. 
buith, early mod. North. 
E. bouthe, buthe; < ME. 
bothe, < ODan. "bodh, 
Dan. bod = Sw. bod, 
booth, stall, =Icel. budh, 
d welling, =MHG. buode, 
hut, tent, G. bude, booth, 
stall (cf. Bohem. bouda 
= Pol. buda = Serbian 
The Constellation Bostes. 
Booted Tarsus 
(Robin). 
a, acrotarsium, 
or front of the tar- 
sus; b, planta, or 
sides and back of 
the tarsus. 
from G.; Gael, buth = Ir. 
both, boith = W. bwth, 
bootlessness 
perhaps from E.); with formative -ill (-d), < 
Icel. boa, bua = AS. buan, etc., dwell, whence 
also AS. bur, E. bower 1 , etc. : see bower 1 , boor, 
etc.] 1. A temporary structure or dwelling 
made of boards, boughs of trees, or other slight 
materials, or of canvas, as a tent. 
The ruder tribes . . . follow the herd, living through the 
summer in booths on the higher pasture-grounds, and only 
returning to the valleys to find shelter from the winter- 
storms. C. Klton, Origins of Eng. Hist., p. 241. 
Specifically 2. A stall for the sale of goods 
or refreshments at a fair or market, for show- 
men's and jugglers' exhibitions, etc. polling- 
booth, a temporary structure of boards, used at elections, 
in Great Britain for receiving votes, and in the United 
States as a stand from which to distribute ballots. 
boothage (bo'thaj), n. [< booth -t- -age.'] Cus- 
tomary dues paid for leave to erect booths in 
fairs and markets. 
boothalet (bot'hal), . t. [< boots, f or booty, + 
hale 3 .] To plunder; pillage. Bean, and Fl. 
boothalert (bot'ha'ler), n. A robber ; a free- 
booter. 
My own father laid these London boothalera, the catch- 
polls, in ambush to set upon me. 
Middleton and Dekker, Roaring Girl, v. 1. 
bootholder (bot'h61"der), n. A jack or other 
device for holding a boot while it is being made 
or cleaned. 
boot-hook (bo't'huk), n. 1. A sort of holdfast 
with which long boots are pulled on the legs. 
2. A button-hook for buttoning shoes. 
boot-hose (bot'hoz), n. pi. 1. Stocking-hose 
or spatterdashes, worn instead of boots. 
Let the waistcoat I have last wrought 
Be made up for my father : I will have 
A cap and Mot-hose suitable to it. 
Fletcher (and another), Love's Cure, i. 2. 
2. Extra stockings or leggings formerly worn 
with boots, and covering the upper part of the 
leg and a part of the thigh, but not the ankles 
and feet. 
bootied (bo'tid), a. [< booty + -cd 2 .] Laden 
with booty ; carrying off booty. 
Charged 
The bootied spoilers, conquer'd and released 
The wretched prey. J. Baillie. 
bootikin (bo'ti-kin), n. [< feoo* 1 + dim. -i-kin. 
Cf. manikin.] 1. A little boot. 2. A soft 
boot or glove made of oiled skin, formerly 
worn by persons affected with gout. That for the 
hand was a kind of mitten with a partition for the thumb, 
but none for the fingers. 
I desire no more of my bootikins than to curtail my fits 
[of the gout]. H. Walpole. 
3. Same as boot 2 , n., 3. 
booting 1 ! (bo'ting), n. [< ME. bating, increase, 
gain, < bote (see boot 1 ) ; partly confused with 
booty, boot 3 .'] 1. Advantage; service; avail. 
Harrington. 2. Payment in addition or into 
the bargain. 
booting 2 ^ (bo'ting), n. [< 6oo<2, c>> 2, + -iwjr 1 .] 
Torture by means of the boot. See boot 2 , n., 3. 
booting 3 t (bo'ting), n. [Appar. < boot 3 + -ing ; 
but in sense 1 prob. an adaptation of butin, 
booty: see booty, butin.] 1. Booty; plunder. 
2. The taking of booty. 
I'll tell you of a brave booting 
That befell Eobin Hood. Old Ballad. 
booting-cornt (bo'ting-korn), . [Formerly 
spelled boting-coi'n ; < booting^ + coral. ] Eent- 
corn; compensation paid in corn. l<int. 
bootjack (bot'jak), n. 1. An implement of 
wood or iron used to hold a boot while the foot 
is drawn out of it. 2. An actor of utility parts. 
[Theat. slang.] 
boot-lace (bot'las), w. The string or cord for 
fastening a boot or half-boot ; a shoe-string. 
boot-last (bot'last), . See boot-tree. 
boot-leg (bo't'leg), n. The part of a boot above 
the upper; leather cut out for the leg of a 
boot. 
bootless (bot'les), a. [< ME. botles, < AS. bot- 
leds (= OFries. botelas = Icel. botalauss), < hot, 
boot, -f- leas, -less.] Without boot or advan- 
tage ; unavailing ; unprofitable ; useless ; with- 
out profit or success. 
It is booteless to thinke to restrayne them by any penal- 
tyes or feare of punishment. Spenser, State of Ireland. 
Till the foiled King, from pathless glen, 
Shall bootless turn him home again. 
Scott, i. of the L., ii. SO. 
He certainly had ample leisure to repent the haste with 
which he had got out of his warm bed in Vienna to take 
his bootless journey to Brussels. 
Motley, Dutch Republic, III. 518. 
bootlessly (bot'les-li), adv. Without use, profit, 
or success. 
bootlessness (bot'les-nes), n. [< bootless -t- 
-<.] The state of being unavailing or use- 
less. 
