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die with one's boots on
Slang Dictionary

boot definition


  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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American Heritage
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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