bootstrap — English Dictionary

Noun

1. A loop (leather or other material) sewn at the side or top rear of a boot to help in pulling the boot on.

2. A means of advancing oneself or accomplishing something without aid.

   Usage

   • Figurative

   Examples

   He used his business experience as a bootstrap to win voters.

3. The process by which the operating system of a computer is loaded into its memory.

4. The process necessary to compile the tools that will be used to compile the rest of the system or program.

5. Any method or instance of estimating properties of an estimator (such as its variance) by measuring those properties when sampling from an approximating distribution.

Verb

1. To help (oneself) without the aid of others.

   Examples

   Sam spent years bootstrapping himself through college.

   More examples (1)

   I was born into that shitty town, maleness, in the remains of outdated ideals and misplaced machismo and repression and there are some good people stuck living there. They are not in charge. They did not build it. And I don’t feel okay just moving out and saying “fuck y’all — bootstrap your way out or die out, I was never one of you.” I want to make it a better, healthier place—not spend all my time talking about how shitty it is and how anyone who would choose to live there deserves it.

2. To load the operating system into the memory of a computer. Usually shortened to boot.

3. To compile the tools that will be used to compile the rest of a system or program.

   Examples

   Bootstrapping means building the GNU C Library, GNU Compiler Collection and several other key system programs.

4. To build or put together (something) by first building or putting together the tools, building blocks, ideas, etc., necessary to build (the thing).

   Usage

   • broadly

   Examples

   And she finds the plan. She doesn't remember it; she bootstraps it from first principles, in a handful of minutes, just like she's done a hundred times before.

5. To employ a bootstrap method.

6. To expand or advance an activity or a collection based solely on previous actions, work, findings, etc.

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   Gradually, more and more terms were discovered, especially as there was a tendency in the literature to list a number of related terms together, thus allowing me to bootstrap new terms found accompanying those originally searched for.

Noun

1. a strap that is looped and sewn to the top of a boot for pulling it on

   Broader terms

   strap

Verb

1. help oneself, often through improvised means

   Broader terms

   helpassistaid