Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to impose oneself.

1919

Aussie (France) 13 Apr. 8/1: ‘A million pardons,’ she soothed, ‘but have you the time?’ / He gave it to her, and availed himself of the chance to bot in.

2. to scrounge; thus cold botting, knocking on a stranger’s front door and asking for food [note salesman’s jargon cold call, to arrive without a prior appointment in the hope of making a sale].

1921		F. Grose A Rough Y.M. Bloke 73: I eventually ‘botted’ (the diggers’ word for begged, borrowed or stolen) a lorry.
1936		in B. Wannan Fair Go, Spinner (1965) 197: He’d jumped every freight in Australia, / Botted handouts by the score.
1944		A. Marshall These Are My People (1957) 159: We’re going to have a cigarette all round [...] If you get plenty later I’ll bot a cigarette off the lot of you.
1974–5		B. Humphries Barry McKenzie [comic strip] in Complete Barry McKenzie (1988) 122: Never reckoned you’d sink so low you’d be botting drinks in the dunnee.
1977		(con. 1941) R. Beilby Gunner 255: I don’t like botting on you.