from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Boot \Boot\ (b[=oo]t), n. [OE. bot, bote, advantage, amends,
cure, AS. b[=o]t; akin to Icel. b[=o]t, Sw. bot, Dan. bod,
Goth. b[=o]ta, D. boete, G. busse; prop., a making good or
better, from the root of E. better, adj. [root]255.]
1. Remedy; relief; amends; reparation; hence, one who brings
relief.
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He gaf the sike man his boote. --Chaucer.
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Thou art boot for many a bruise
And healest many a wound. --Sir W.
Scott.
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Next her Son, our soul's best boot. --Wordsworth.
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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.
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I'll give you boot, I'll give you three for one.
--Shak.
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3. Profit; gain; advantage; use. [Obs.]
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Then talk no more of flight, it is no boot. --Shak.
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{To boot}, in addition; over and above; besides; as a
compensation for the difference of value between things
bartered.
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Helen, to change, would give an eye to boot. --Shak.
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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.
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