Booting a Computer Means Lifting Itself by Its Bootstraps
A boot is a sturdy shoe. Computing borrowed the word through a joke about an impossible task.
A boot is a sturdy shoe covering the foot and ankle. Starting a computer is called *booting* through a joke: a machine cannot run a program until a program is loaded, so the process was compared to *pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps*, a proverbially impossible act. *Bootstrap* was shortened to *boot* in the 1970s. A car's *boot* is British; Americans call it a trunk, from the travelling chests once strapped to the back.
- A sturdy shoe. *Walking boots.*
- A car's luggage space (British). *In the boot.*
- To start a computer. *Boot the machine.*
- To dismiss (informal). *He got the boot.*
- Old French — *bote*. *The source.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | boot | A boot. |
| Plural | boots | Boots. |
| Verb | boot | Booting. |
| Compound | bootstrap | A bootstrap. |
| American | trunk | The trunk. |
- Put on your boots, it is muddy.Footwear.
- The bags are in the boot.British.
- The computer takes a minute to boot.Computing.
Boot idioms
- Give someone the boot — dismiss them
- Too big for your boots — conceited
- The boot is on the other foot — the situation is reversed
- Bootstrap — start something from nothing, with no outside help
- Boots on the ground — soldiers physically present
Old French *bote*, of unknown origin. The computing sense is short for *bootstrap*, from the 1970s.
Why is starting a computer called booting?
From bootstrapping, a joke about pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps, because a computer must load a program in order to load programs.
Why do Americans say trunk instead of boot?
From the travelling chests once strapped to the back of a carriage. British English named the same space after the boot, a compartment on a coach.