n. [ OE. bot, bote, advantage, amends, cure, AS. bōt; akin to Icel. bōt, Sw. bot, Dan. bod, Goth. bōta, D. boete, G. busse; prop., a making good or better, from the root of E. better, adj. √255. ] 1. Remedy; relief; amends; reparation; hence, one who brings relief. [ 1913 Webster ]

He gaf the sike man his boote. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

Thou art boot for many a bruise
And healest many a wound. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

Next her Son, our soul's best boot. Wordsworth. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. That which is given to make an exchange equal, or to make up for the deficiency of value in one of the things exchanged. [ 1913 Webster ]

I'll give you boot, I'll give you three for one. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Profit; gain; advantage; use. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Then talk no more of flight, it is no boot. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

To boot, in addition; over and above; besides; as a compensation for the difference of value between things bartered. [ 1913 Webster ]

Helen, to change, would give an eye to boot. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

A man's heaviness is refreshed long before he comes to drunkenness, for when he arrives thither he hath but changed his heaviness, and taken a crime to boot. Jer. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Booted; p. pr. & vb. n. Booting. ] 1. To profit; to advantage; to avail; -- generally followed by it; as, what boots it? [ 1913 Webster ]

What booteth it to others that we wish them well, and do nothing for them? Hooker. [ 1913 Webster ]

What subdued
To change like this a mind so far imbued
With scorn of man, it little boots to know. Byron. [ 1913 Webster ]

What boots to us your victories? Southey. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To enrich; to benefit; to give in addition. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

And I will boot thee with what gift beside
Thy modesty can beg. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. bote, OF. bote, F. botte, LL. botta; of uncertain origin. ] 1. A covering for the foot and lower part of the leg, ordinarily made of leather. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An instrument of torture for the leg, formerly used to extort confessions, particularly in Scotland. [ 1913 Webster ]

So he was put to the torture, which in Scotland they call the boots; for they put a pair of iron boots close on the leg, and drive wedges between them and the leg. Bp. Burnet. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A place at the side of a coach, where attendants rode; also, a low outside place before and behind the body of the coach. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A place for baggage at either end of an old-fashioned stagecoach. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. An apron or cover (of leather or rubber cloth) for the driving seat of a vehicle, to protect from rain and mud. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (Plumbing) The metal casing and flange fitted about a pipe where it passes through a roof. [ 1913 Webster ]

Boot catcher, the person at an inn whose business it was to pull off boots and clean them. [ Obs. ] Swift. --
Boot closer, one who, or that which, sews the uppers of boots. --
Boot crimp, a frame or device used by bootmakers for drawing and shaping the body of a boot. --
Boot hook, a hook with a handle, used for pulling on boots. --
Boots and saddles (Cavalry Tactics), the trumpet call which is the first signal for mounted drill. --
Sly boots. See Slyboots, in the Vocabulary. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To boot one's self; to put on one's boots. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Booted; p. pr. & vb. n. Booting. ] 1. To put boots on, esp. for riding. [ 1913 Webster ]

Coated and booted for it. B. Jonson. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To punish by kicking with a booted foot. [ U. S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

[ 1913 Webster ]

n. Booty; spoil. [ Obs. or R. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who blacks boots. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Wearing boots, especially boots with long tops, as for riding; as, a booted squire. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Zool.) Having an undivided, horny, bootlike covering; -- said of the tarsus of some birds. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A half boot or short boot. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖prop. n. [ L. Bootes, Gr. bow`ths herdsman, fr. boy^s, gen. boo`s, ox, cow. ] (Astron.) A northern constellation of stars near Ursa Major, containing the bright star Arcturus. [ 1913 Webster ]