to give (someone) the boot
12
7.4
- idiom
- /ɡɪv ˈsʌmwʌn ðə buːt/
- Informal
- But elected officials can be recalled, impeached, or given the boot!
- give the guy the boot
- just give him the boot
Examples
-
My dad worked for 30 years at the same company and was given the boot.
Blog text (12) -
They gave him the boot after the war.
-
His lies would have been publicly challenged, and he'd have been given the boot by the voters.
Blog text (27) -
Alex gave him the boot, and he wasn't arguing, so he's on the first flight out of here.
-
After several warnings, the manager finally decided to give him the boot for being late to work.
-
The company had no choice but to give her the boot because of the ongoing budget cuts.
-
When the project failed, the director gave the team leader the boot to shake things up.
Synonyms
∞
2.8
To officially make someone leave their job
524
3.0
Force someone to leave a place or group
376
3.0
To force someone to leave a place, job, or group
129
3.0
Make someone leave a job or group because of a problem
87
3.3
To remove someone from their job
67
5.5
To make someone stop working for a company
46
3.8
To stop employing someone so they lose their job
30
3.5
To make someone leave their job
24
7.9
Make someone leave quickly and forcefully
21
8.6
Get rid of someone or something you no longer want
20
5.8
Force someone to leave a job or organization suddenly
8
4.1
Formally tell an employee that their job will end
6
8.5
To tell someone to leave their job or to stop using something
1
7.4
To suddenly end someone's job or a relationship, often without warning
1
5.2
To make someone leave their job, often as punishment or during job cuts
1
9.0
To end a relationship or stop someone from working for you
1
4.0
To force someone to leave a place, group or job
1
9.9
To end a relationship or job suddenly and harshly
To stop employing someone, often suddenly as punishment
End someone's job or relationship suddenly and without warning
Antonyms
How Severe
Surface Forms
Morphology
give + (someone) + the + boot
The sense 'to dismiss; fire someone' is not directly compositional from 'give' (to transfer) + 'boot' (a shoe), because the verb 'give' does not itself convey removal — the phrase relies on a metaphorical sense of 'boot' as kicking someone out. Because the connection via 'kick out' is interpretable (and many languages use a similar kick-out metaphor), learners may partially infer the meaning, but it is not fully predictable without prior exposure.
Etymology
The idiom give (someone) the boot may come from the simple image of using a boot to kick someone out of a room or workplace. That's why the phrase now means 'to fire' someone.