bootstrap
a loop of leather or cloth sewn at the top rear, or sometimes on each side, of a boot to facilitate pulling it on.
a means of advancing oneself or accomplishing something: He used his business experience as a bootstrap to win voters.
relying entirely on one's efforts and resources: The business was a bootstrap operation for the first ten years.
self-generating or self-sustaining: a bootstrap process.
Computers. boot1 (defs. 21, 26).
to help (oneself) without the aid of others: She spent years bootstrapping herself through college.
Idioms about bootstrap
pull oneself up by one's bootstraps, to help oneself without the aid of others; use one's resources: I admire him for pulling himself up by his own bootstraps.
Origin of bootstrap
1Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
British Dictionary definitions for bootstrap
/ (ˈbuːtˌstræp) /
a leather or fabric loop on the back or side of a boot for pulling it on
by one's bootstraps or by one's own bootstraps by one's own efforts; unaided
(modifier) self-acting or self-sufficient, as an electronic amplifier that uses its output voltage to bias its input
Also: boot a technique for loading the first few program instructions into a computer main store to enable the rest of the program to be introduced from an input device
(as modifier): a bootstrap loader
commerce an offer to purchase a controlling interest in a company, esp with the intention of purchasing the remainder of the equity at a lower price
to set up or achieve (something) using minimal resources
(foll by to) to attach (something) to a larger or more important thing
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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