1. a loop of leather or cloth sewn at the top rear, or sometimes on each side, of a boot to facilitate pulling it on. 2. a means of advancing oneself or accomplishing something: He used his business experience as a bootstrap to win voters. 3. pull oneself up by one's bootstraps, to help oneself without the aid of others; use one's resources: I admire him for pulling himself up by his own bootstraps.—adj. 1. relying entirely on one's efforts and resources: The business was a bootstrap operation for the first ten years. 2. self-generating or self-sustaining: a bootstrap process.
—v.t. 1. Computers.boot1 (def. 26). 2. to help (oneself) without the aid of others: She spent years bootstrapping herself through college.
