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Wellington boot

Wellington boot

1 2.9
A knee-length waterproof boot made of rubber or leather for wearing outdoors
  • noun
  • /ˈwɛlɪŋtən buːt/
  • UK
translation icon : bota de Wellington
  • She put on her Wellington boots before stepping into the muddy field.

I'll tread as gracefully as I can also in my Wellington boots, I, in my galoshes, I here's, here's the thing.

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Examples

  • - You got your Wellington boots on, Major?

  • Look at them Wellington boots.

  • If you live in far more rural lands, then you might like to invest in some Wellington boots.

    Blog text (17)
  • He was wearing Wellington boots.

    Fiction book (2002)
  • Because of the wet terrain, they wear drab green rubber Wellington boots on these forays.

    Academic text (1991)
  • After the heavy rain, everyone needed their Wellington boots to walk through the puddles.

  • Farmers often wear Wellington boots when working in wet or muddy conditions.

Synonyms

rubber boot
vsWellington boot
  • US
6 1.0

A waterproof rubber shoe worn to keep feet and lower legs dry when walking in water or mud

is knee-length and may be leather or rubber, originally a man's high style
gumboot
vsWellington boot
  • Australian
1 2.5

A rubber boot worn to keep your feet dry in rain or mud

is a knee-length style that can be leather or rubber, used by anyone

How Tall

Wellington boot
  • UK
1 2.9
half boot
1 3.4
ankle boot
2 2.5

Surface Forms

Morphology

Wellington + boot

A learner who knows 'Wellington' (a person's name) and 'boot' can infer that this refers to a type or style of boot named after Wellington, so the coarse meaning 'a kind of boot' is derivable. However, specific features (knee-length, waterproof, rubber/leather) are not predictable from the constituents alone, so the relation is only partially compositional.

Etymology

Wellington boot is named after the Duke of Wellington, who asked for a simple knee-high leather boot to wear in wet, muddy fields, and people began to call that new style a 'Wellington'. When rubber versions were made later, the name stayed, so today Wellington boots mean knee-length waterproof boots for wet and muddy conditions.