- boot (1)
- "footwear," early 14c., from O.Fr. bote "boot" (12c.), with corresponding words in Prov. and Sp., of unknown origin, perhaps from a Gmc. source. Originally for riding boots only. The verb meaning "kick" is Amer.Eng. 1877; that of "eject" is from 1880.
- boot camp
- 1944, U.S. Marines slang, said to be from boot as slang for "recruit," which supposedly dates from the Spanish-American War and is a synecdoche from boots, leggings worn by U.S. sailors.
- boot (2)
- "profit, use," O.E. bot "help, relief, advantage; atonement," lit. "a making better," from P.Gmc. *boto (see better). Cf. Ger. Buße "penance, atonement," Goth. botha "advantage." Now mostly in phrase to boot (O.E. to bote).
- bootleg
- 1889, Amer.Eng. slang, from the trick of concealing something (originally a flask of liquor) down the leg of a high boot.
- boot (3)
- "start up a computer," 1975, from bootstrap (n.), 1953, "fixed sequence of instructions to load the operating system of a computer," on notion of the first-loaded program pulling itself, and the rest, up by the bootstraps.
- bootless
- late O.E. botleas "unpardonable, not to be atoned for," from boot (2) + -less.
- booty
- "plunder, gain, profit," mid-15c., from O.Fr. butin "booty" (14c.), from a Gmc. source akin to M.L.G. bute "exchange." Influenced in form and sense by boot (2) and in form by nouns ending in -y. Meaning "female body considered as a sex object" is 1920s, black slang.
- buskin
- "half boot," c.1500, origin unknown, perhaps from O.Fr. brousequin (14c., Mod.Fr. brodequin, by influence of broder "to embroider") or M.Du. brosekin "small leather boot." Figurative senses relating to tragedy are from the word being used (since mid-16c.) to translate Gk. kothurnus, the high, thick-soled boot worn in Athenian tragedy; contrasted with sock, the low shoe worn by comedians.
- jackboot
- 1686, type of large, strong cavalry boot of 17c.-18c., later a type worn by Ger. soldiers in the Nazi period. From jack (q.v.), though the exact sense here is unclear + boot. Figurative of military oppression since 1768.
- boat
- O.E. bat "boat, ship, vessel," from P.Gmc. *bait- (cf. O.N. batr, Du. boot, Ger. Boot), possibly from PIE base *bheid- "to split" (see fissure), with the sense of making a boat by hollowing out a tree trunk; or it may be an extension of the name for some part of a ship. French bateau "boat" is from O.E. or O.N.
- best
- O.E., reduced by assimilation of -t- from earlier O.E. betst "best, first, in the best manner," originally superlative of bot "remedy, reparation," the root word now only surviving in to boot (see boot (2)), though its comparative, better, and superlative, best, transferred to good (and in some cases well). From P.Gmc. root *bat-, with comp. *batizon and superl. *batistaz. The verb "to get the better of" is from 1863. Best-seller is from 1889; best friend was in Chaucer (late 14c.). Best girl is first attested 1887 in a Texas context; best man is 1814, originally Scottish, replacing groomsman.
- Wellington
- boot so called from 1817, for Arthur, 1st Duke of Wellington (1769-1852), who also in his lifetime had a style of coat, hat, and trousers named for him as well as a variety of apple and pine tree.
- zipper
- 1925, probably from zip (1). The trademark taken out on the name that year applied to a boot with zippers, not to the "lightning fastener" itself, which was at first called a zip.
- U-boat
- 1916 (said to have been in use from 1913), partial translation of Ger. U-boot, short for Unterseeboot, lit. "undersea boat."
- Caligula
- cognomen of the third Roman emperor (12 C.E.-41 C.E.), born Gaius Caesar. The nickname is lit. "little boot," given when he joined his father on military campaigns when still a toddler, in full, child-sized military gear; dim. of caliga "heavy military shoe," which some related to calx "heel, tread," and others to a root meaning "to wrap, bind."
- Conestoga
- 1699, name of an Indian tribe in southcentral Pennsylvania, probably from some Iroquoian language and sometimes said to mean "people of the cabin pole;" later a place in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, where a characteristic type of covered wagon was built. Conestoga wagon is from 1750 (about three years before the last of the Conestoga Indians were massacred), but it was already an established term as the first reference is to the name of a Philadelphia tavern. Also a breed of horses (1824) and a type of boot and cigar (see stogie).
- batten (v.)
- "to improve, to fatten," 1590s, probably representing a dialectal survival of O.N. batna "improve" (cf. O.E. batian, O.Fris. batia, O.H.G. bazen, Goth. gabatnan "to become better, avail, benefit," O.E. bet "better;" cf. also boot (v.)).
- shag (v.)
- "copulate with," 1788, probably from obs. verb shag (c.1380) "to shake, waggle," which probably is connected to shake (cf. shake, shake it in U.S. blues slang from 1920s, ostensibly with ref. to dancing).
"And þe boot, amydde þe water, was shaggid." [Wyclif]
Also the name of a dance popular in U.S. 1930s and '40s. The baseball verb meaning "to catch" (fly balls) is attested from 1913, of uncertain origin or connection to other senses of the word. - Denver
- city in Colo., founded 1858 as Auraria ("golden"), renamed 1859 for Gen. James W. Denver (1817-92), governor of the territory. The family name is from the place of that name in Norfolk, lit. "ford or passage used by the Danes," from O.E. Dena (gen. pl.) + fær. The Denver boot or shoe as the name for a wheel clamp for illegally parked vehicles, supposedly was invented 1953 by Frank Marugg, pattern-maker and violinist with the Denver (U.S.A.) Symphony Orchestra. He was a friend of politicians and police department officials, and the city sheriff's department came to him for help in making a device to immobilize vehicles whose owners didn’t pay parking tickets.
- Tom
- familiar shortening of masc. proper name Thomas, used by late 14c. as a type of a nickname for a common man. Applied 17c. as a nickname for several exceptionally large bells. Short for Uncle Tom in the sense of "black man regarded as too servile to whites" is recorded from 1959. Tom Walker, U.S. Southern colloquial for "the devil" is recorded from 1833. Tom and Jerry is first attested 1828 in many extended senses, originally the names of the two chief characters (Corinthian Tom and Jerry Hawthorn) in Pierce Egan's "Life in London" (1821); the U.S. cat and mouse cartoon characters debuted 1940 in "Puss Gets the Boot." Tom Thumb (1570s) was a miniature man in popular tradition before P.T. Barnum took the name for a dwarf he exhibited.
- sabotage (n.)
- 1910, from Fr. sabotage, from saboter "to sabotage, bungle," lit. "walk noisily," from sabot "wooden shoe" (13c.), altered (by association with O.Fr. bot "boot") from M.Fr. savate "old shoe," from an unidentified source that also produced similar words in O.Prov., Port., Sp., It., Arabic and Basque. In Fr., the sense of "deliberately and maliciously destroying property" originally was in ref. to labor disputes, but the oft-repeated story that the modern meaning derives from strikers' supposed tactic of throwing old shoes into machinery is not supported by the etymology. Likely it was not meant as a literal image; the word was used in Fr. in a variety of "bungling" senses, such as "to play a piece of music badly." The verb is first attested 1918 in Eng., from the noun. Saboteur is 1921, a borrowing from Fr.
- Anacreontic
- of or in the manner of Anacreon, "convivial bard of Greece," the celebrated Gk. lyrical poet, born at Teos in Ionia (560-478 B.C.E.). In ref. to his lyric form (1706) of a four-line stanza, rhymed alternately, each line with four beats (three trochees and a long syllable), also "convivial and amatory" (1801); and "an erotic poem celebrating love and wine" (1650s). Francis Scott Key in 1814 set or wrote his poem "The Star-Spangled Banner" to the melody of "To Anacreon in Heav'n," the drinking song of the popular London gentleman's club called The Anacreontic Society, whose membership was dedicated to "wit, harmony, and the god of wine."
To Anacreon in Heav'n, where he sat in full glee,
The tune is late 18c. and may be the work of society member and court musician John Stafford Smith (1750-1836).
A few Sons of Harmony sent a petition;
That he their Inspirer and Patron wou'd be;
When this answer arrived from the Jolly Old Grecian;
"Voice, Fiddle, and Flute,
No longer be mute,
I'll lend you my name and inspire you to boot,
And besides I'll instruct you like me, to intwine,
The Myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's Vine." - shoe
- O.E. scoh "shoe," from P.Gmc. *skokhaz (cf. O.N. skor, Dan., Swed. sko, O.Fris. skoch, O.S. skoh, M.Du. scoe, Du. schoen, O.H.G. scuoh, Ger. Schuh, Goth. skoh). No known cognates outside Gmc., unless it somehow is connected with PIE base *skeu- "cover" (cf. second element in L. ob-scurus). Old plural form shoon lasted until 16c. Meaning "metal plate to protect a horse's hoof" is attested from late 14c. The verb is from O.E. scogan. Distinction between shoe and boot is attested from c.1400. Shoeshine is from 1911. Shoelace is attested from 1640s. Shoestring is from 1610s; as figurative for "a small amount" it is recorded from 1882; as a type of necktie, from 1903. Shoebox is attested from 1860; as a type of building, from 1968. To stand in someone's shoes "see things from his or her point of view" is attested from 1767. Old shoe as a type of something worthless is attested from late 14c. Shoes tied to the fender of a newlywed couple's car preserves the old custom (mentioned from 1540s) of throwing an old shoe at or after someone to wish them luck. Perhaps the association is with dirtiness, on the "muck is luck" theory.