A boot is a type of shoe that covers the foot and part of the leg, often used for protection or fashion. As a verb, it can mean to kick something or to start up a computer.
It comes from Old French “bote,” meaning a protective leg covering. The computing sense “boot” comes from “bootstrap,” from the phrase “pull yourself up by your bootstraps,” meaning to get going by your own effort.
When a computer “boots,” it’s metaphorically dragging itself up into full operation, just like the old joke about lifting yourself by your bootstraps. English loves to recycle physical clothing words into high-tech jargon.
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