Word.ws English Dictionary

giving someone the boot

giving someone the boot is the present participle and gerund of give someone the boot.

Meaning of give someone the boot

Verb

give someone the boot (third-person singular simple present gives someone the boot, present participle giving someone the boot, simple past gave someone the boot, past participle given someone the boot)

  1. (UK, idiomatic, informal) To fire, sack, or eject someone.
    • I am sorry for your husband and children, but I have to give you the boot.
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see give, the, boot.

Questions about giving someone the boot

What is giving someone the boot the present participle and gerund of?
Giving someone the boot is the present participle and gerund of give someone the boot.

Words near giving someone the boot in the dictionary

  1. giving someone one
  2. giving someone something to think about
  3. giving someone the air
  4. giving someone the arm
  5. giving someone the bag
  6. giving someone the boot
  7. giving someone the brush-off
  8. giving someone the business
  9. giving someone the chair
  10. giving someone the cold shoulder
  11. giving someone the creeps

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: giving someone the boot (page history and authors); give someone the boot (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:

Cite this entry: “giving someone the boot.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/giving_someone_the_boot. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.