boot
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: bo͞ot
ipa: /buːt/
ipa: /bʏːt/
ipa: /but/
ipa: /bʉːt/
rhymes: -uːt
Forms: form: boots
form: booting
form: booted
form: booted
Etymology: From Middle English boote, bote, bot, from Old English bōt (“help, relief, advantage”), from Proto-West Germanic *bōtu, from Proto-Germanic *bōtō (“atonement, improvement”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰed- (“good”).
Akin to Old Norse bót (“bettering, remedy”) (Danish bod), Gothic 𐌱𐍉𐍄𐌰 (bōta), German Buße. Doublet of bote (a borrowing from Middle English).
Senses: examples: text: It boots thee not to be compaſsionate, / After our ſentence, plaining comes too late.
ref: 1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii], page 26, column 2:
text: It bootes me not to threat, I must ſpeake faire, / The legate of the Pope will be obeyd: […]
ref: 1594, Christopher Marlow[e], The Troublesome Raigne and Lamentable Death of Edward the Second, King of England: […], London: […] [Eliot’s Court Press] for Henry Bell, […], published 1622, →OCLC, [Act I]:
text: 1678 Richard Hooker, “A Sermon found in the study of Bishop Andrews” in Izaak Walton, The Life of Dr. Sanderson, late Bishop of Lincoln, London: Richard Marriot, p. 262,
What booteth it to others that we wish them well, and do nothing for them?
text: What could be wanting in my father but to have wrote a book to publiſh this notion of his to the world? Little boots it to the ſubtle ſpeculatiſt to ſtand ſingle in his opinions,—unleſs he gives them proper proper vent: […]
ref: 1759, [Laurence Sterne], chapter XIX, in The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, 2nd (1st London) edition, volume I, London: […] R[obert] and J[ames] Dodsley […], published 1760, →OCLC, pages 126–127:
text: Think you that we should quarrel with the French? / What boots to us your victories, your glory? / We pay, we fight, you profit at your ease.
ref: 1794, Robert Southey, Wat Tyler. A Dramatic Poem. In Three Acts, London: J[ohn] M‘Creery, […] for Sherwood, Neely, and Jones, […], published 1817, →OCLC, Act II, page 44:
glosses: To be beneficial, to help.
examples: text: I will go and offer myſelf to this divorce—it boots not what becomes of me.
ref: 1764 December 24 (indicated as 1765), Onuphrio Muralto, translated by William Marshal [pseudonyms; Horace Walpole], chapter IV, in The Castle of Otranto, […], London: […] Tho[mas] Lownds […], →OCLC, page 151:
text: [W]hat subdued / To change like this, a mind so far imbued / With scorn of man, it little boots to know; [...]
ref: 1816, Lord Byron, “Canto III”, in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. Canto the Third, London: […] [F]or John Murray, […], →OCLC, stanza LIV, page 30:
text: What boots whether it be Westminster or a little country spire which covers your ashes, or if, a few days sooner or later, the world forgets you?
ref: 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, The History of Pendennis. […], volume I, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849, →OCLC, page 178:
glosses: To matter; to be relevant.
examples: text: And I will boot thee with what guift beſide / Thy modeſtie can begge.
ref: c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene v], page 348, column 2:
glosses: To enrich.