Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to dismiss from a job, to throw out; to end a relationship with; thus get the boot..

1888		H.R. Haggard Col. Quaritch 215: There’ll be the money to take over the Moat Farm and give that varmint Janter the boot.
1905		H. Green Actors’ Boarding House (1906) 72: I don’t keer ef the hull purfession gives me the boot.
1912		Conan Doyle Lost World 172: ‘Put it down in your diary [...] and send it to your rag.’ ‘And be ready to get the toe-end of the editorial boot in return’.
1925		Wodehouse Carry on, Jeeves 17: Directly I found that he was a sock-sneaker I gave him the boot.
1930		E. Waugh Vile Bodies 35: They gave him the boot after the war.
1940		J.H. O’Hara Pal Joey 37: I would give the boot to that rumpot you have now.
1958		(con. 1945) F. Davis Spearhead 19: Go ahead. Give me the boot.
1968		P. Barnes Ruling Class II ii: I know they’re waiting to give me the boot.
1975		‘P.B. Yuill’ Hazell and the Three-card Trick (1977) 140: Her second husband [...] had given her the boot when she brought back a nice little dose of gonorrhoea to the nuptial couch.
1981		J. Ellroy Brown’s Requiem 30: When she’s got the wop sewed up, she’ll give me the boot.
1989		Beano Comic Library No. 181 16: Oh, dear! I’ve been given the boot!
2020		(con. 1991-94) W. Boyle City of Margins 166: [S]urprised that Ava’s not giving him the boot.
2021		L. McInerney Rules of Revelation 159: Deirdre had given Jimmy the boot years ago.

2. (also ...the heel, ...the boots) to give someone a kicking; also fig. use.

1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 11 Apr. 14/2: At the first stage of the proceedings it was known that Sir John regarded the movement as ‘the damnedest bit of cheek any colonial Minister had ever been guilty of;’ but the Press and the Government both became seized of his weakness, and, without waiting for him to commit himself too far, it was made public that ‘Sir John, with characteristic chivalry,’ would give his party the heel and vote with the Government.
1897		E.W. Townsend Chimmie Fadden 3: Den I give him de heel, and over he went in de mud.
1898		Binstead & Wells A Pink ’Un and a Pelican 237: I might ha’ give her a bit too much o’ the boot as she lays on the floor.
1906		Wash. Post (DC) 30 Dec. 12/3: They can [...] give him the boots if he gets a bit surly with them.
1910		Truth (Perth) 25 June 8/8: He’d been smashed for safe and certain / For that bloke were after loot / [...] / And gives of the bloak the boot.
1921		P. & T. Casey Gay-cat 303: Give a Man the Boots — to kick and stamp on a man.
1932		W.R. Burnett Giant Swing 194: Spanish was wild now. He lifted his foot to give Moon the boot.
1949		W.R. Burnett Asphalt Jungle in Four Novels (1984) 246: Dietrich [...] raised his huge, heavily shod foot as if to give him the boot.
1950		(con. 1936–46) K.S. Prichard Winged Seeds (1984) 106: The blasted coms, they say, are [...] stirring up trouble: ‘Give them the boot in the union and in the A.L.P!’.
1953		Kramer & Karr Teen-Age Gangs 68: Stomp him, Frankie! Give him the boots.
1966		F. Elli Riot (1967) 232: ‘Give him the boot!’ ‘Cream the phoney bastard!’.
1988		R. Doyle Commitments 154: He called ’melda a prick teaser. An’ tha’ wasn’t on cos she isn’t. So I went to give ’im a boot righ’.
2000		M. Manning Get Your Cock Out 48: The Mexican fatboy strolled around the table, belched loudly, bent at the knee slightly, cracked out a razzler, and started giving Strutt the cowboy boots.
2010		K. Richards Life 54: After the voice broke, and we were given that boot down, I stuck very close with the guys.

dismissal, rejection; usu. as get/give the order of the boot.

1894		Truth (Sydney) 11 Nov. 5/8: That masterful man must have felt inclined to confer the order of the boot on the Major-General and to give him marching orders for England.
1899		A. Binstead Gal’s Gossip 71: She proceeded to invest the thirteenth nursery-maid of the season with the ancient order and insignia of the boot.
1903		A. Binstead Pitcher in Paradise 55: Damn that feller Perkins [...] I shall hand him the order o’ the boot as soon as I get home.
1904		Marvel 29 Oct. 31: You’ll not only get the order of the boot, but you’ll go to quod!
1909		Sun. Times (Perth) 12 Dec. 1/5: And for all the old beer-sparrers there’s the order of the boot.
1910		Wodehouse Psmith in the City (1993) 147: I think we may say Comrade Jackson has secured the Order of the Boot.
1911		Gem 11 Nov. 11: Do you mean to say that you’ve given Figgins the order of the boot?
1914		Sport (Adelaide) 14 Feb. 9/2: They Say [...] That when he brought her home to tea his mother found out that she was Little Titch. and gave her the order of the boot.
1922		Joyce Ulysses 302: Walking about with his book and pencil here’s my head and my heels are coming till Joe Cuffe gave him the order of the boot for giving lip to a grazier.
1930		‘Leslie Charteris’ Enter the Saint 170: A little trouble in the Guards, followed by the O.B.E. You know. Order of the Boot — Everywhere.
1953		T.A.G. Hungerford Riverslake 173: The old bitch gave Bet the order of the boot.
1963		W.H. Pearson Coal Flat 111: They should give him the Order of the Boot.
1967		‘Whisper All Aussie Dict.’ in Kings Cross Whisper (Sydney) xxxix 4/4: royal order of the boot: To be evicted or fired from a job.
1999		G. Seal Lingo 155: Other terms for losing one’s job include to [...] get the order of the boot.

1. to kick someone during a fight; thus in with the boot, no holds barred.

1904		G.V. Hobart Jim Hickey 42: The head waiter was an ex-pugilist, so he put the boots to me.
1905		Sun. Times (Perth) 9 July 4/8: For instance, Smith, on coming home, / Found Liza hugging Boots; / Would Frederick be warranted / In ‘getting in the boot?’.
1910		Bulletin (Sydney) 22 Dec. 10/4: Nevertheless, there still remains to be discovered the Australian woman, or even lydy, who would mob a public man and ‘put the boot into him,’ as was done to Prime Minister Asquith recently by English suffragettes.
1914		C.J. Dennis ‘The Play’ in Bulletin (Sydney) 16 July 47/1: ‘Put in the boot!’ I sez. ‘Put in the boot!’.
1924		(con. WWI) A.G. Pretty Gloss. of Sl. [...] in the A.I.F. 1921–1924 (rev. t/s) n.p.: sock the boot in. Literally to kick viciously.
1925		G.H. Mullin Adventures of a Scholar Tramp 285: De dinge slowed ’im wid a pair o’ brass knucks, and den put de boots to ’im.
1927		Smith’s Wkly (Sydney) 20 Aug. 11/2: Eventually the model ‘S.M. Herald’ leader will read like this [...] Put it all over Dud the Chair ’e did, fair the doos. First of all got ’im snouted, then and then put in the boot good ’n’ ’ard.
1935		G. Ingram Cockney Cavalcade 141: Stick the boot in, Patsy!
1939		K. Tennant Foveaux 247: Give it to ’em! Put in the boot, boys!
1951		Cusack & James Come in Spinner (1960) 203: I don’t fancy having some of the talent round here putting the boot into me.
1955		B. Hill Boss of Britain’s Underworld 28: I think villains respected me [...] because after I chivved a bloke I did not put the boot in or anything like that.
1966		T. Keyes All Night Stand 14: The bouncer at the stairs end [...] put the boot in.
1970		G.F. Newman Sir, You Bastard 62: Go on, put the boot in.
1973		(con. 1930s) F. Huelin Keep Moving 45: I’d a stuck me boot into it only I’m wearin’ sneakers.
1984		‘Derek Raymond’ He Died with His Eyes Open 69: He was beaten to death with a hammer. [...] The knife went in, too, also the boot. [Ibid.] 106: I think you put the boot in, Eric.
1985		R.G. Barrett You Wouldn’t Be Dead for Quids (1989) 179: Most blokes who had just been four-outed would probably start putting the boot in for a bit of a square-up once they got on top.
1995		J. Cameron Vinnie Got Blown Away 112: Backup they put the boot in.
2000		P. Beatty Tuff 244: That nigger’s eyes was rolling back in his head before Tuffy put the boot to him.
2000		N. Griffiths Grits 42: Then am up an puttin thuh boot in again an again, a don’t aim a just kick.
2009		T. Black Gutted 76: Johnstone was getting the boot in. No question.
2011		Eve. Standard 7 Feb. 64: [headline] Stick the boot into Italy, Johnno.
2014		M.E. Fitch ‘Tommy, Who Loved to Laugh’ in ThugLit Sept. [ebook] Tommy With a Mean Streak found bums— men and women— and put the boots to them.
2021		J. Ellroy Widespread Panic 19: ‘A kid’s putting the boots to you, right? Pay up, or he’ll rat you to the Legion of Decency’.

2. (also sock a boot into) in fig. use.

1920		Advocate (Burnie, Tas.) 5 June 7/2: The beak got woolly last time, and threatened to put the boot in if he tried that lurk again.
1921		Sun. Times (Perth) 4 Sept. 8/7: Someone worded him that she had accepted an invitation to last week’s Movie Ball, and he posted her, instead of a full costume, a pair of gloves only. ‘Yes,’ she slanged to a girl pal. ‘He promised me a lovely costume and a pair of shoes. Instead of that he ‘put the boots in’ and sent me gloves!’ .
1924		(con. WWI) A.G. Pretty Gloss. of Sl. [...] in the A.I.F. 1921–1924 (rev. t/s) n.p.: sock the boot in. [...] In a general sense – harsh treatment.
1933		A.E. Strong in Partridge Sl. Today and Yesterday 287: If any of you fellows put the boot into me in any way, I’ll parade sick.
1946		D. Stivens Courtship of Uncle Henry 75: Anyone could see he was mad as a cut snake about everything and wanting to put the boot in.
1955		D. Niland Shiralee 70: He wasn’t the type to put the boot in later, to hold a grudge in perpetuity. [Ibid.] 132: Fate was certainly laying in the boot; piling it on.
1968		S. Gore Holy Smoke 35: And as per usual when things go crook, the first bloke they put the boots into is their leader, Moses.
1971		A. Buzo The Roy Murphy Show (1973) 120: Putting in the verbal boot, are we?
1976		J. Rosenthal Bar Mitzvah Boy Scene 73: God, you really do put the boot in, don’t you, mate!
1988		McGill Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 18/2: boot in phrs. put in the boot/put the boot in to kick brutally, literally or metaphorically; eg ‘He put the boot into Happy’s chances of becoming matron by spreading the old rumour about her youthful experiment with dope.’.
1999		Indep. on Sun. Culture 19 Sept. 6: I don’t think that anybody was really trying to put the boot in.
2000		Guardian Guide 22–28 Jan. 93: Bystanders tactlessly put the boot in with lines like:’You look dead on your feet!’.
2009		T. Black Gutted 261: Anything you did for me, Fitz, was either to put the boot into McAvoy and Jonny Boy or to keep me from blowing the whistl.

1. to give a kicking to; thus get the boots, to receive a kicking; also fig. use.

1896		Ade Artie (1963) 33: He threw the boots into me the worst I ever got ’em.
1899–1900		C.L. Cullen Tales of the Ex-Tanks 370: I was getting the boots when I came to in a greasy bunk.
1904		‘Hugh McHugh’ I’m from Missouri 38: It certainly does jar a budding statesman to have the cook [...] put the boots to his maiden speech.
1915		Van Loan ‘On Account of a Lady’ in Taking the Count 125: T-bone comes out from behin’ and puts de boots to him proper.
1926		J. Black You Can’t Win (2000) 163: Mary hits me in the back of the head with a bottle of beer, and when I go down she puts the boots to me.
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 32/2: Boot, n. [...] 3. (Pl.) The feet. (‘To put the boots to’ — to kick.).
1962		Ragen & Finston World’s Toughest Prison 814: put the boots to – To kick a person after having been knocked down.
1991		(con. 1920s) O.D. Brooks Legs 76: They worked him over with their fists, knocking him down, putting the boots to him.

2. to victimize, to treat harshly.

1901		‘Hugh McHugh’ Down the Line 79: As an honest, hard-working man it was my duty to put the boots to Edgerton.
1905		‘Hugh McHugh’ Get Next 58: If that’s the case I’m glad the Japs put the boots to the Czar.
1920		Ade Hand-made Fables 73: At last they were to have a chance to throw the Boots into the Gink.
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 169/2: Put the boots to.[...] 3. To cheat; take unfair advantage of; betray.
1952		(con. 1948) G. Mandel Flee the Angry Strangers 360: I’m going to school and learn unionism [...] I’ll learn how to put the boots to pigs.
2023		(con. 1962) J. Ellroy Enchanters 334: ‘We need to put the boots to Sid Leffler. He’s dirty up the ying-yang’.

3. (also get the boots, put the boots on) to have sexual intercourse with; to rape.

1927		W. Edge Main Stem 31: She was a rich woman connected with the Arnold soap people. I put the boots to her out there under the sky.
1933		N. West Miss Lonelyhearts (1975) 225: They got her in the back room to teach her a new word and put the boots to her.
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 169/2: Put the boots to.[...] 2. To know carnally.
1970		San Diego Sailor 7: She’d let me put the boots to her.
1972		B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular 163: put the boots on somebody [...] to rape a man anally.
1981		S. King Cujo (1982) 93: Ugly phrases, terrible terms kept crowding up [...] nooky, hair pie, put the boots to her.
1995		L. Stavsky et al. A2Z 42/2: gettin’ the boots – v. getting sex.