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die with one's boots on

 - 5 dictionary results

boot

1  [boot]
Use die with one's boots on in a Sentence
–noun
1. a covering of leather, rubber, or the like, for the foot and all or part of the leg.
2. Chiefly British. any shoe or outer foot covering reaching to the ankle.
3. an overshoe, esp. one of rubber or other waterproof material.
4. an instrument of torture for the leg, consisting of a kind of vise extending from the knee to the ankle, tightened around the leg by means of screws.
5. any sheathlike protective covering: a boot for a weak automobile tire.
6. a protective covering for the foot and part of the leg of a horse.
7. a protecting cover or apron for the driver's seat of an open vehicle.
8. the receptacle or place into which the top of a convertible car fits when lowered.
9. a cloth covering for this receptacle or place.
10. British. the trunk of an automobile.
11. a rubber covering for the connection between each spark-plug terminal and ignition cable in an automotive ignition system.
12. Also called Denver boot. a metal device attached to the wheel of a parked car so that it cannot be driven away until a fine is paid or the owner reports to the police: used by police to catch scofflaws.
13. U.S. Navy, Marines. a recruit.
14. Music. the box that holds the reed in the reed pipe of an organ.
15. a kick.
16. Slang. a dismissal; discharge: They gave him the boot for coming in late.
17. Informal. a sensation of pleasure or amusement: Watching that young skater win a gold medal gave me a real boot.
18. Baseball. a fumble of a ball batted on the ground, usually to the infield.
–verb (used with object)
19. to kick; drive by kicking: The boy booted a tin can down the street.
20. Football. to kick.
21. Baseball. to fumble (a ground ball).
22. to put boots on; equip or provide with boots.
23. Also, bootstrap. Computers.
a. to start (a computer) by loading the operating system.
b. to start (a program) by loading the first few instructions, which will then bring in the rest.
24. Slang. to dismiss; discharge: They booted him out of school for not studying.
25. to attach a Denver boot to: Police will boot any car with unpaid fines.
26. to torture with the boot.
—Idioms
27. bet your boots, to be sure or certain: You can bet your boots that I'll be there!
28. die with one's boots on,
a. to die while actively engaged in one's work, profession, etc.
b. to die fighting, esp. in battle, or in some worthy cause.
Also, especially British, die in one's boots.
29. get a boot, Informal. to derive keen enjoyment: I really got a boot out of his ridiculous stories.
Origin:
1275–1325; ME bote < AF, OF; of uncert. orig.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Slang Dictionary
boot

  1. n.
    a thrill; a charge. : I get a real boot out of my grandchildren.
  2. tv.
    to dismiss or eject someone. : I booted him myself.
  3. n.
    a dismissal or ejection. : I got the boot even though I had worked there for a decade.
  4. tv. & in.
    to start the operating system of a computer. : When I booted, all I got was a feep.
  5. in.
    to empty one's stomach; to vomit. : The kid booted and booted and will probably never smoke another cigar.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Word Origin & History

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 up itself by the bootstraps.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Legal Dictionary

Main Entry: boot
Function: noun
Etymology: obsolete or dialect boot compensation, from Old English bOt advantage, compensation
: additional money or property received to make up the difference in an exchange of business or investment property that is of like kind but unequal in value
NOTE: Under Internal Revenue Code section 1031, no tax liability results from an exchange solely of like-kind property used in a business or trade or held for investment. If the exchange includes boot, however, under section 1245 the boot will be treated as ordinary income.
Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law, © 1996 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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Idioms & Phrases

die with one's boots on

Also, die in harness. Expire while working, keep working to the end, as in He'll never retirehe'll die with his boots on, or She knows she'll never get promoted, but she wants to die in harness. Both phrases probably allude to soldiers who died on active duty. Until the early 1600s the noun boot denoted a piece of armor for the legs, which may have given rise to this usage; and Shakespeare used harness in the sense of armor when he wrote: "At least we'll die with harness on our back" (Macbeth 5:5).

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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