*boot*

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Booted; p. pr. & vb. n. Booting. ] 1. To profit; to advantage; to avail; -- generally followed by it; as, what boots it? [ 1913 Webster ]

What booteth it to others that we wish them well, and do nothing for them? Hooker. [ 1913 Webster ]

What subdued
To change like this a mind so far imbued
With scorn of man, it little boots to know. Byron. [ 1913 Webster ]

What boots to us your victories? Southey. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To enrich; to benefit; to give in addition. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

And I will boot thee with what gift beside
Thy modesty can beg. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. bote, OF. bote, F. botte, LL. botta; of uncertain origin. ] 1. A covering for the foot and lower part of the leg, ordinarily made of leather. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An instrument of torture for the leg, formerly used to extort confessions, particularly in Scotland. [ 1913 Webster ]

So he was put to the torture, which in Scotland they call the boots; for they put a pair of iron boots close on the leg, and drive wedges between them and the leg. Bp. Burnet. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A place at the side of a coach, where attendants rode; also, a low outside place before and behind the body of the coach. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A place for baggage at either end of an old-fashioned stagecoach. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. An apron or cover (of leather or rubber cloth) for the driving seat of a vehicle, to protect from rain and mud. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (Plumbing) The metal casing and flange fitted about a pipe where it passes through a roof. [ 1913 Webster ]

Boot catcher, the person at an inn whose business it was to pull off boots and clean them. [ Obs. ] Swift. --
Boot closer, one who, or that which, sews the uppers of boots. --
Boot crimp, a frame or device used by bootmakers for drawing and shaping the body of a boot. --
Boot hook, a hook with a handle, used for pulling on boots. --
Boots and saddles (Cavalry Tactics), the trumpet call which is the first signal for mounted drill. --
Sly boots. See Slyboots, in the Vocabulary. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Booted; p. pr. & vb. n. Booting. ] 1. To put boots on, esp. for riding. [ 1913 Webster ]

Coated and booted for it. B. Jonson. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To punish by kicking with a booted foot. [ U. S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

[ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To boot one's self; to put on one's boots. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Booty; spoil. [ Obs. or R. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who blacks boots. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Wearing boots, especially boots with long tops, as for riding; as, a booted squire. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Zool.) Having an undivided, horny, bootlike covering; -- said of the tarsus of some birds. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A half boot or short boot. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖prop. n. [ L. Bootes, Gr. bow`ths herdsman, fr. boy^s, gen. boo`s, ox, cow. ] (Astron.) A northern constellation of stars near Ursa Major, containing the bright star Arcturus. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. bothe; cf. Icel. būð, Dan. & Sw. bod, MHG. buode, G. bude, baude; from the same root as AS. būan to dwell, E. boor, bower, be; cf. Bohem. bauda, Pol. buda, Russ. budka, Lith. buda, W. bwth, pl. bythod, Gael. buth, Ir. both. ] 1. A house or shed built of boards, boughs, or other slight materials, for temporary occupation. Camden. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A covered stall or other temporary structure in a fair, or market, or at a polling place. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. a partly enclosed area within a room for use of one or a small number of people, such as one in a restaurant having a table and seats, or one at an exhibition containing a display of products from one organization. [ PJC ]

4. a small structure designed for the use of one person performing a special activity; as, a telephone booth; a highway toll booth; a projection booth; a guard booth. [ PJC ]

v. t. & i. [ Boot, for booty + hale. ] To forage for booty; to plunder. [ Obs. ] Beau. & Fl. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. Stocking hose, or spatterdashes, in lieu of boots. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Hose made to be worn with boots, as by travelers on horseback. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Bothy. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ pos>n.; pl. -ies /plu> [ Scottish. Cf. Booth. ] A wooden hut or humble cot, esp. a rude hut or barrack for unmarried farm servants; a shepherd's or hunter's hut; a booth. [ Scot. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Boot + -kin. ] 1. A little boot, legging, or gaiter. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A covering for the foot or hand, worn as a cure for the gout. H. Walpole. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A kind of torture. See Boot, n., 2. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A kicking, as with a booted foot. [ U. S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Advantage; gain; gain by plunder; booty. [ Obs. ] Sir. J. Harrington. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A device for pulling off boots. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a long lace for fastening boots. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

adj. distributed or sold illicitly; especially, imported illegally.
Syn. -- black-market, contraband, smuggled. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

v. 1. to sell illicit products such as drugs or alcohol.
Syn. -- smuggle. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. to produce alcohol illegally. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. [ From Boot profit. ] Unavailing; unprofitable; useless; without advantage or success. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

I'll follow him no more with bootless prayers. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

-- Boot"less*ly, adv. -- Boot"less*ness, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A toady; a bootlicker. [ Low, U. S. ] Bartlett. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. someone who humbles himself as a sign of respect; who behaves as he had no self-respect.
Syn. -- apple polisher, bootlick, fawner, groveller, truckler, ass-kisser, toady. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

adj. attempting to win favor from influential people by flattery.
Syn. -- fawning, obsequious, sycophantic, toadyish, ass-kissing. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. One who makes boots. -- Boot"mak`ing, n. [1913 Webster]

n. A servant at a hotel or elsewhere, who cleans and blacks the boots and shoes. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. (Naut.) The act or process of daubing a vessel's bottom near the surface of the water with a mixture of tallow, sulphur, and resin, as a temporary protection against worms, after the slime, shells, etc., have been scraped off. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Naut.) Sheathing a vessel with planking over felt. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Boot + tree wood, timber. ] An instrument to stretch and widen the leg of a boot, consisting of two pieces, together shaped like a leg, between which, when put into the boot, a wedge is driven. [ 1913 Webster ]

The pretty boots trimly stretched on boottrees. Thackeray. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. Icel. b&ymacr_;ti exchange, barter, Sw. byte barter, booty, Dan. bytte; akin to D. buit booty, G. beute, and fr. Icel. byta, Sw. byta, Dan. bytte, to distribute, exchange. The Scandinavian word was influenced in English by boot profit. ] That which is seized by violence or obtained by robbery, especially collective spoil taken in war; plunder; pillage. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

To play booty, to play dishonestly, with an intent to lose; to allow one's adversary to win at cards at first, in order to induce him to continue playing and victimize him afterwards. [ Obs. ] L'Estrange. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ D. vrijbuiter, fr. vrijbuiten to plunder; vrij free + buit booty, akin to E. booty. See Free, and Booty, and cf. Filibuster. ] One who plunders or pillages without the authority of national warfare; a member of a predatory band; a pillager; a buccaneer; a sea robber. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act, practice, or gains of a freebooter; freebooting. Booth. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Robbery; plunder; a pillaging. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Acting the freebooter; practicing freebootery; robbing. [ 1913 Webster ]

Your freebooting acquaintance. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Freebootery. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A boot with a short top covering only the ankle. See Cocker, and Congress boot, under Congress. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. a man's high tasseled boot. [ 19th century ]
Syn. -- Hessian boot, hessian, Wellington, Wellington boot. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. A strong leather boot reaching up to or over the knee; it is worn mostly by soldiers. [ PJC ]

n. Wearing jackboots; -- used especially as a metaphor for harshly repressive and militaristic; as, jackbooted government agents. [ PJC ]

n. [ from the jackboots worn as part of the uniform of police in certain totalitarian countries. ] Harsh strongarm tactics; repressive, bullying and militaristic tactics like those used in authoritarian or totalitarian countries; -- used opprobriously, and often in hyperbolic exaggeration of police tactics in democratic countries. [ PJC ]

n. A humerous appellation for a sly, cunning, or waggish person. [ 1913 Webster ]

Slyboots was cursedly cunning to hide 'em. Goldsmith. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Tollbooth. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Toll a tax + booth. ] [ Written also tolbooth. ] 1. A place where goods are weighed to ascertain the duties or toll. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

He saw Levy . . . sitting at the tollbooth. Wyclif (Mark ii. 14). [ 1913 Webster ]

2. In Scotland, a burgh jail; hence, any prison, especially a town jail. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To imprison in a tollbooth. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

That they might tollbooth Oxford men. Bp. Corbet. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. pl. High boots, having generally a band of some kind of light-colored leather around the upper part of the leg; riding boots. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ 1st pref. un- + boot. ] To take off the boots from. [ 1913 Webster ]