boost
/buːst/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Northern Ireland/bʉst/
boost noun: a push from behind or below, as to one who is endeavoring to climb.
Noun
boost (plural boosts)
- A push from behind or below, as to one who is endeavoring to climb.
- Something that helps, or adds power or effectiveness; assistance.
- The controversy gave a boost to the author's sales.
- A coordinate transformation that changes velocity.
- A positive intake manifold pressure in cars with turbochargers or superchargers.
Verb
boost (third-person singular simple present boosts, present participle boosting, simple past and past participle boosted)
- To lift or push from behind (one who is endeavoring to climb); to push up.
- Gaddis found that with his broken arm, he couldn't climb the wall. Josh grabbed his foot and boosted him up.2009, Richard L. Cave, Peace Keepers, page 39
- To help or encourage (something) to increase or improve; to assist in overcoming obstacles.
- This campaign will boost your chances of winning the election.
- As unsatisfied with wafty promises that arts learning inspires “creativity” as with pledges that it boosts scores, the Project Zero researchers videotaped several very different classrooms in two schools with intensive arts instruction.2008 April 27, Ann Hulbert, “Drawing Lessons”, in The New York Times
- To steal.
- It is not at all unusual or suspicious for a woman to spend a good deal of the day out shopping, and feminine clothing styles often make it relatively easy for a female shoplifter to conceal "boosted" merchandise on her person.1978, Harold J. Vetter, Ira J. Silverman, The Nature of Crime, page 296
- One time Noojie had to spend a weekend in jail for boosting and the four of us was left at the crib with Killer.2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World, Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 46
- To jump-start a vehicle by using cables to connect the battery in a running vehicle to the battery in a vehicle that won't start.
- It's easy to boost a dead battery, but this can be dangerous if it's done the wrong way.1980, Popular Mechanics, volume 154, number 4, page 152
- If I want to use the charged Montana battery to boost my old Summit where do I connect the negative cable on the good battery of the Montana?2004, Doug Mitchell, “how to connect for boost?”, in alt.autos.gm (Usenet)
- To give a booster shot to.
- To amplify; to signal boost.
boost meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Telugu
boost in Tamil
- உயர்த்து, ஊட்டம், ஊட்டு, கூட்டு, மதிப்பை உயர்த்து, முன்னுக்குத்தள்ளு
boost in Urdu
- آگے دھکیلنا
boost in Bengali
- সাহায্য, উত্সাহদান, উন্নতিসাধন, সহায়তা, সমর্থন, মন্মুখে ঠেলিয়া দেওয়া
boost in Telugu
- బూస్ట్ చేయండి, బూస్ట్ చేస్కోండి
More languagesFewer languages
- boost in Malayalam
- ഉയർത്തിവിടൽ, പൊക്കിവിടൽ, പറഞ്ഞു പൊക്കൽ, ഉദ്ധരണം
- boost in Kannada
- ಹೆಚ್ಚಿಸು, ಏರಿಸು, ಮೇಲೆತ್ತು, ಕೆಬ್ಬೆರೋಗ
- boost in Punjabi
- ਹੁਲਾਰਾ
- boost in Assamese
- বাঢ় barh, বাঢ়া barha
- boost in Thai
- เพิ่ม pə̂əm, ส่งเสริม sòng-sə̌əm
Examples of boost in a sentence
- The local transport received a big boost as part of the mayor's infrastructural plans.
- Normally those pills give me a boost, but last night they gave me a downer.
- The newspaper started a telemarketing campaign to boost its subscriptions by calling non-subscribers.
Forms of boost
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | boosts |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | boosts |
| present participle | boosting |
| past participle | boosted |
| past | boosted |
Origin of boost
Unknown. The verb is first recorded 1815; the noun, 1825. Compare Scots boost (“to move; drive off; shoo away”), bost, boast (“to threaten; scold”), Middle English boosten, bosten (“to threaten”). Possible doublet of boast.
Words formed from boost
Phrases with boost
Words that rhyme with boost
Questions about boost
- What does boost mean?
- Boost means a push from behind or below, as to one who is endeavoring to climb.
- What is boost in Tamil?
- Boost in Tamil is உயர்த்து, ஊட்டம், ஊட்டு. See Boost meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is boost?
- Boost can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce boost?
- Boost is pronounced /buːst/.
- What is the plural of boost?
- The plural of boost is boosts.
Words near boost in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: boost (page history and authors); boost (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); boost (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); boost (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); boost (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); boost (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); boost (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); boost (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); বাঢ় (Assamese) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-boost.ogg.
Cite this entry: “boost.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/boost. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.