11/22/2017 Boot - Wikipedia

Boot
A boot is a type of footwear and a specific type of shoe. Most boots mainly
cover the foot and the ankle, while some also cover some part of the lower calf.
Some boots extend up the leg, sometimes as far as the knee or even the hip.
Most boots have a heel that is clearly distinguishable from the rest of the sole,
even if the two are made of one piece. Traditionally made of leather or rubber,
modern boots are made from a variety of materials. Boots are worn both for
their functionality protecting the foot and leg from water, extreme cold, mud
or hazards (e.g., work boots may protect wearers from chemicals or use a steel
toe) or providing additional ankle support for strenuous activities with added
traction requirements (e.g., hiking), or may have hobnails on their undersides
Ancient Greek pair of terracotta
to protect against wear and to get better grip; and for reasons of style and boots. Early geometric period
fashion. cremation burial of a woman, 900
BC, Ancient Agora Museum, Athens
In some cases, the wearing of boots may be required by laws or regulations,
such as the regulations in some jurisdictions requiring workers on construction
sites to wear steel-toed safety boots. Some uniforms include boots as the regulated
footwear. Boots are recommended as well for motorcycle riders. High-top athletic
shoes are generally not considered boots, even though they do cover the ankle,
primarily due to the absence of a distinct heel. In Britain, the term may be used to
refer to football (soccer) cleats.

Contents
1 History
2 Types and uses
2.1 Practical uses
2.2 Fashion and fetish use
3 Boot parts and accessories
4 As symbols Cowboy boots custom made for
4.1 In heraldry President Harry S. Truman.
4.2 Idioms and cultural references
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

History

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Early boots consisted of separate leggings, soles, and uppers worn together to
provide greater ankle protection than shoes or sandals. Around 1000 BC, these
components were more permanently joined to form a single unit that covered
the feet and lower leg, often up to the knee. A type of soft leather ankle boots
were worn by nomads in eastern Asia and carried to China to India and Russia
around AD 1200 to 1500 by Mongol invaders. The Inuit and Aleut natives of
Alaska developed traditional winter boots of caribou skin or sealskin featuring
decorative touches of seal intestine, dog hair and suchlike. 17th century
European boots were influenced by military styles, featuring thick soles and
Oxhide boots from Loulan, Xinjiang,
turnover tops that were originally designed to protect horse mounted soldiers.
China. Former Han dynasty 220 BC
In the 1700s, distinctive, thigh-high boots worn by Hessian soldiers fighting in AD 8.
the American Revolutionary War influenced the development of the iconic
heeled cowboy boots worn by cattlemen in the American west.[1]

Types and uses

Practical uses
Boots which are designed for walking through snow, shallow water and mud
may be made of a single closely stitched design (using leather, rubber, canvas,
or similar material) to prevent the entry of water, snow, mud or dirt through
gaps between the laces and tongue found in other types of shoes. Waterproof
gumboots are made in different lengths of uppers. In extreme cases, thigh-
boots called waders, worn by anglers, extend to the hip. Such boots may also be
insulated for warmth. With the exception of gum boots, boots sold in general
retail stores may be considered "water resistant," as they are not usually fully
waterproof, compared to high-end boots for fishers or hikers.
A pair of ISO 20345:2004 compliant
Speciality boots have been made to protect steelworkers' feet and calves if they S3 steel-toed safety boots designed
get accidentally step in puddles of molten metal, to protect workers from a for construction workers.
variety of chemical exposure, to protect workers from construction site hazards
and to protect feet from extreme cold (e.g., with insulated or inflatable boots
for use in Antarctica). Most work boots are "laceups" made from leather.
Formerly they were usually shod with hobnails and heel- and toe-plates, but
now can usually be seen with a thick rubber sole, and often with steel toecaps.

Boots are normally worn with socks to prevent chafes and blisters, to absorb
sweat, to improve the foot's grip inside the boot, or to insulate the foot from
the cold. Before socks became widely available, footwraps were worn instead.

Specialty boots have been designed for many different types of sports, A pair of A-12 OXCART Flight Suit
particularly riding, skiing, snowboarding, ice-skating, and sporting in Boots

wet/damp conditions.

Fashion and fetish use

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Bovver boots, Doc Martens boots and army boots were adopted by skinheads and
punks as part of their typical dress and have migrated to more mainstream
fashion, including women's wear.[2] As a more rugged alternative to dress shoes,
dress boots may be worn (though these can be more formal than shoes).
Fashionable boots for women may exhibit all the variations seen in other fashion
footwear: tapered or spike heels, platform soles, pointed toes, zipper closures and
the like. The popularity of boots as fashion footwear ebbs and flows. Singer Nancy
Sinatra popularized the fad of women wearing boots in the late 1960s with her
A pair of "classic" black leather
song "These boots are made for walking". They were popular in the 1960s and Doc Martens. While these boots
1970s (particularly knee-high boots), but diminished in popularity towards the were originally designed as
end of the 20th century. In the 2010s, they are experiencing a resurgence in workwear (they are resistant to
popularity, especially designs with a long bootleg. Boot bolos, boot bracelets, boot petrol, alkaline chemicals and
other substances), they were
straps, boot chains, and boot harnesses are used to decorate boots. Sandal boots
adopted as a fashion item by the
also exist.
skinhead and punk subcultures.

Boots have become the object of sexual attraction for some people and they have
become a standard accessory in the BDSM scene (where leather, latex and PVC
boots are favoured) and a fashion accessory in music videos.[3][4] Knee- or thigh-high
leather boots are worn by some strippers and pornography models and actresses. Boots
have even become a sexual fetish for devotees known as boot fetishists and foot fetishists.

Boot parts and accessories

Spats
Boot jack
For the parts of a boot, see Hiking boot#Parts

As symbols

In heraldry High leather boots are

the object of sexual
As boots have been used by riders for millennia, they were used by knights. As a
attraction by some
consequence, albeit not common, boots came to be used as charges in heraldry. people, notably boot
fetishists.
Because of the origin of heraldry as insignia used by mounted warriors like the medieval
knights, when boots are used in heraldry, they are often displayed as riding
boots, even if the blazon might not specify it as such. They are sometimes
adorned with spurs, which may or may not have another tincture (colour) than
the boot and the background field.

Boots were also used in coats of arms of shoemakers' guilds and in shop signs
outside their shops.
A pair of hobnailed boots

Idioms and cultural references

Boots that are particularly old and well worn, or a similarly tough item are referred to as being tough and strong with
the phrase "tough as old boots."[5]

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A discarded boot may be used in the

construction of a musical instrument
known as the "mendoza."
Tall (high) boots may have a tab, loop or
handle at the top known as a bootstrap,
allowing one to use fingers or a tool to
provide better leverage in getting the
boots on. The figurative use "to pull one's
self up by one's bootstraps" in the sense
of "ability to perform a difficult task without
external help" developed in the 19th
Boot hooks (left) and a boot jack
century in US English.[6] The term
(right) are sometimes required to
"bootstrapping" was subsequently used in
put on or take off some types of a metaphorical sense in a number of
boots fields, notably computing (which uses the
term "bootup" to describe the process of Coat of arms of Aresches
starting a computer and in
municipality in France displays a
entrepreneurship, which uses the term "bootstrapping" to describe start-up
companies which are launched without major external financing. boot in the dexter field.
To "die with one's boots on" means to die while one is still actively involved in
work or to go down fighting. Popularized by Wild West movies.[7]
Boot camp: a colloquial term for the initial recruit training of a new recruit
enlisting in a military organization or armed force. In this context, a "boot" is
just such a recruit.
Stormtroopers and other agents of authority or units used for political
strongarm tactics such as intimidation are typically referred to by their
detractors as "jackbooted thugs," a reference to the hobnailed military
jackboot of the World War I German Stormtrooper and later Nazi uniform.
Authoritarian rule, either by hostile military forces, or by groups of armed
intimidators, is imposed by "jackboot tactics."
To "give one the boot" means to kick one out (of a job, a club, etc.) or expel A pair of tall riding boots
one, either literally or figuratively.
To "put the boot in" is an idiom for inflicting violence on someone.
"The boot is on the other foot now" means that a situation has become
reverseda previous victor is now losing, for example.
Wearing "seven-league boots" references a classic children's fairy tale and
indicates that a person or company can cover great distances, figuratively or
literally, in a single stride.
To "shake/quake in one's boots" means to be very frightened, and is mostly
used sarcastically.
"Knocking boots" is slang for having sex, regardless of whether either person
is wearing boots.

See also
List of boots
Boot cut
Boot fetishism
Boot throwing
Gumboot dance Calfhigh leather boots with
stiletto heel (Le Silla).
Kinky boots
Wellie wanging

References

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1. Fiona McDonald (30 July 2006). Shoes and Boots Through History (https://bo
oks.google.com/books?id=WCyp2q7nQAkC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Shoes+
and+Boots+Through+History&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Y7QiT-PdIcLn0QGl9YzsCA&v
ed=0CEoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Shoes%20and%20Boots%20Through%2
0History&f=false). Gareth Stevens. ISBN 978-0-8368-6857-9. Retrieved
26 January 2012.
2. Margo DeMello (1 September 2009). Feet and footwear: a cultural
encyclopedia (https://books.google.com/books?id=5QdKSxajwP0C&pg=PA6
5). Macmillan. pp. 65. ISBN 978-0-313-35714-5. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
3. XBIZ. "Kinky Boots: An Enduring Symbol in Fetish Fashion" (http://m.xbiz.co
m/article_piece.php?id=173135). XBIZ.
4. "Work Boots for Men ~ Every Occasion!" (http://www.bootratings.com/).
Bootratings. Retrieved 16 October 2015.
5. "American English Thesaurus" (http://www.macmillandictionary.com/thesauru A pair of New Rock boots,
s/british/tough#as-tough-as-old-boots_1). "as tough as old boots" phrase. popular in the Gothic and biker
Macmillan Publishers Limited 20092012. Retrieved 25 January 2012. subcultures

6. "It's been widely suggested that the "bootstrap" metaphor originated in the
legendary tales of Baron von Mnchhausen. As Chris Waigl recently pointed
out on the Eggcorn Database (commenting on "boots-trap"), the original German version has a scene in which
Mnchhausen gets out of a swamp by pulling on his own hair. In an American retelling (supposedly), the Baron uses
his bootstraps to pull himself out of a similar predicament. None of the 19th-century cites I've seen allude to the
Mnchhausen story -- instead, they often refer to pulling oneself over a fence or up a steeple. So if Mnchhausen
really pulls himself up by his bootstraps in an American version (which I have yet to verify), then the writer probably
took advantage of preexisting imagery for an absurdly impossible task." Benjamin Zimmer, American Dialect Society,
11 August 2005
7. "boot" (http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/boot). The Free Dictionary, 2012 by Farlex, Inc. Retrieved 26 January
2012.

External links
Footwear History (http://www.footwearhistory.com)
The History of Boots (http://podiatry.curtin.edu.au/boot.html) (Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20070821011712/
http://podiatry.curtin.edu.au/boot.html) August 21, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.)

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This page was last edited on 17 November 2017, at 13:27.

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