boot

Boot refers to a type of footwear that covers the foot and ankle, typically made of leather or synthetic materials, and worn for protection, support, and style. Boots vary in height, material, and purpose, including work boots, hiking boots, riding boots, fashion boots, and combat boots. Advanced boots incorporate features such as waterproof membranes, insulation, steel or composite toes for safety, and specialized soles for grip on different surfaces.

Historically, boots have been worn for thousands of years in many cultures. Early designs focused on protection and durability, evolving with technology such as vulcanized rubber, synthetic fabrics, and performance-focused outsoles. Modern boots balance comfort, durability, and safety, with design variations tailored to occupations like construction, forestry, and law enforcement, as well as outdoor recreation.

In computing, to boot (or boot up) a device means to start or restart it, initiating the loading of the operating system. The boot process typically begins with hardware initialization and a power-on self-test, followed by locating a bootloader on nonvolatile storage, loading the operating system kernel, and starting system services. The boot process also describes cold boot, warm boot, and network boot methods. The term bootstrapping is etymologically related to the idea of pulling oneself up by one's bootstraps and describes self-starting processes in computing.

Other uses of boot include the verb to kick, though in modern contexts it is often a mild insult or a literal action. The phrase boot camp denotes intensive initial training, especially for military recruits, and a bootable drive refers to media from which a computer can boot.