| Main Entry: | boot up |
| Part of Speech: | v |
| Definition: | to start up a computer; also, to load an operating system or software program into memory |
| Example: | Most of us pray every time we boot up our computers. |
| Etymology: | c 1980-83 |
boot up
Start a computer, as in When you've booted up, it's best not to turn off the computer until you're done for the day. The term, dating from the late 1970s, was a shortening of bootstrap, another computer idiom referring to using one set of instructions to load another set of instructions. Also see log in.