booty
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈbuːti/
rhymes: -uːti
Forms: form: booties
form: bootyn
Etymology: From Middle English buty, botye, bottyne, from Old French butin, botin, from Middle Low German bǖte (“distribution, exchange, loot”), of obscure origin, but related to Middle High German biute, German Beute (“booty”). Possibly ultimately from Proto-Celtic *boudi (“profit, gains; victory”). Sense perhaps influenced by boot (as in to boot).
Senses: topics: nautical
transport
glosses: A form of prize which, when a ship was captured at sea, could be distributed at once.
examples: text: The soldier gets his booty ; the combatant his spoils ; the carnivorous animal his prey. Booty respects what is of personal service to the captor ; spoils whatever serves to designate his triumph ; prey includes whatever gratifies the appetite and is to be consumed.
ref: 1818, George Crabb, English Synonymes Explained, in Alphabetical Order: With Copious Illustrations and Examples Drawn from the Best Writers, 2nd edition, London: Printed for Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy; and T[homas] Boosey, →OCLC, page 162:
text: Hungry for fame and the approval of rare-animal collector Queen Victoria (Imelda Staunton), Darwin deceives the Captain and his crew into believing they can get enough booty to win the pirate competition by entering Polly in a science fair. So the pirates journey to London in cheerful, blinkered defiance of the Queen, a hotheaded schemer whose royal crest reads simply “I hate pirates.”
ref: 2012 April 26, Tasha Robinson, “The Pirates! Band of Misfits”, in The Onion AV Club:
glosses: Plunder taken from an enemy in time of war, or seized by piracy.
examples: text: After returning from their Halloween trick-or-treating, the kids settled down to enjoy their booty of candies.
text: [H]e ſtood ſtill till ſhe came to him, and then, ſpreading his arms in her way, caught her, loaded as ſhe was with the pieces of candles, with which ſhe had filled the forepart of her ſhift; for ſhe had, in her haste, forgot to bring any thing to carry them off. […] If ſhe ſpoke to refuſe him, ſhe knew her voice would betray her, and ſhe ſhould be exposed for ever, at the same time that the fear of loſing her booty prevented her letting go her hold to ſtruggle with him, and ſtrive to repel force by force.
ref: 1762, Charles Johnstone, The Reverie; or, A Flight to the Paradise of Fools, volume 2, Dublin: Printed by Dillon Chamberlaine, →OCLC, pages 202–203:
text: Booty and prey are often used in an extended sense. Plunderers obtain a rich booty ; the diligent bee returns loaded with its booty.
ref: 1818, George Crabb, English Synonymes Explained, in Alphabetical Order: With Copious Illustrations and Examples Drawn from the Best Writers, 2nd edition, London: Printed for Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy; and T[homas] Boosey, →OCLC, page 162:
text: “Aw yeah, I'm rich! So rich, I'll never have to work again. But you will. We'll come back every day 'til that snout of yours is worn to the bone.” “It doesn't have a bone. It's boneless.” “Well, worn to a stump then. Yeah, you know what I mean. Now come on! We need to haul this booty to the surface.”
ref: 2025 September 15, David A. Goodman, “The Trouble with Truffles” (14:46 from the start), in Futurama, season 10, episode 9, spoken by Bender (John DiMaggio):
glosses: Something that has been stolen or illegally, mischievously, or greedily obtained from elsewhere.
Synonyms: word: boodle
word: booty
word: fang
word: gizzit
topics: military
war
government
politics
word: haul
word: hot property
word: loot
word: pelf
word: pickings
word: pillage
word: plunder
word: prigging
word: sack
word: spoil
word: spoils
word: swag
Hypernyms: word: goods
word: money
word: property
Hyponyms: word: prize
word: spoils of war
Coordinate terms: loot
Derived terms: a fair booty makes many a thief
freebooter
play booty
Related terms: word: boodle
word: manubial
word: fence
word: stauling-ken
word: swag bag
word: leave someone holding the bag
word: too hot to hold