Boot , 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?

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

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

What boots to us your victories? Southey.

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

And I will boot thee with what gift beside Thy modesty can beg.Shak. Shak.

Boot , v. t. [imp. & p. p.Booted; p. pr. & vb. n. Booting.]

1. To put boots on, esp. for riding.

Coated and booted for it. B. Jonson.

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

Boot ", v. i. To boot ones self; to put on ones boots."

Boot , n. Booty; spoil. [Obs. or R.] Shak.

Boot (b?t), 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.

He gaf the sike man his boote. Chaucer.

Thou art boot for many a bruise And healest many a wound. Sir W. Scott.

"Next her Son, our souls best boot. Wordsworth.

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.

"Ill give you boot, Ill give you three for one. Shak.

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

Then talk no more of flight, it is no boot. Shak.

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

Helen, to change, would give an eye to boot. Shak.

"A mans 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." Jer. Taylor.

Boot , 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.

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

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.

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.]

4. A place for baggage at either end of an old- fashioned stagecoach.

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

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

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.

-- Webster's unabridged 1913