▪ I. † boost, n.1 Obs.
Also 4–6 north. bost.
A var. of boist, box, pyx. Cf. the forms bouste, buist.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 14003 A bost [v.r. boist] sco has o smerles nummen. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. III. 351 Tua bostis of gude wyne. 1570 Levins Manip. 222 A Booste, boxe, pixis. 1651 Calderwood Hist. Kirk (1843) II. 33 Adoratioun..and keeping of bread in boxes or boostes. |
▪ II. boost, n.2 colloq. (orig. U.S.)
(buːst)
1. A lift, a shove up; help, encouragement (by means of publicity, etc.), increase (in value, reputation, etc.). Also, the action of boost v. 2.
| 1825 J. Neal Bro. Jonathan II. 101 (Th.), Shall I give him a boost? or no? 1830 Seba Smith Major Jack Downing (1860) 114 (Th.), I got a pretty good boost in Boston, by the editors giving me recommendations. 1858 Dow Serm. (Bartlett) Office-seekers ask you to give them a boost into the tree of office. 1879 Lowell Poet Wks. 417 Bacchus that now is scarce induced To give Eld's lagging blood a boost. 1883 Harper's Mag. Nov. 943/1 Nor has its completion given that ‘boost’ to California..so fondly dreamed of. 1919 Wodehouse My Man Jeeves 24 You see. A boost for the uncle right away. 1958 Spectator 6 June 722/2 After this initial boost, recruiting will fall off again. 1964 Daily Tel. (Colour Suppl.) 2 Oct. 7/1 A piece of national prestige-building and a boost to exports too. 1967 Listener 6 Apr. 473/3 The recording needs treble boost, but is otherwise excellent. 1969 Gramophone Apr. 1502/3 A small amount of bass boost gives a well balanced performance. 1969 Scotsman 26 Apr. 6/6 [Scottish manufacturers] have expressed the opinion that they are doing all right..with their exports and need no additional boosts. |
2. In an internal-combustion or jet engine: = supercharging vbl. n.; supercharger pressure. Also, = booster 2 c. Hence attrib. and Comb.
| 1931 Air Ann. Brit. Empire 88 It has been necessary to evolve a practical automatic boost-controlling mechanism. 1931 Handbk. Aeronaut. viii. 500 Boost Gauge, Mark II a. 1934 Aircraft Engin. Apr. 110/3 Boost pressure is the difference between induction pipe pressure and 760 mm. of mercury. 1941 P. Richey Fighter Pilot 57, I immediately started clambering after them, with my ‘plug’ (boost-override) pulled. 1943 L. Cheshire Bomber Pilot i. 13 He tested..the airscrew pitch controls and the boost. 1950 Jrnl. Brit. Interplanet. Soc. IX. 174 The thrust of the boost motors. 1962 F. I. Ordway et al. Basic Astronautics ix. 385 The boost phase of flight. |
▪ III. boost, v.
(buːst)
1. trans. To hoist; ‘to lift or push from behind (one endeavoring to climb); to push up. (Low)’ Webster. Also fig. To assist over obstacles, to advance the progress of; to support, encourage; to increase (in value, reputation, etc.); to praise up, to extol; also absol. orig. U.S. colloq.
| 1815 D. Humphreys Yankey in England 103 Boost, raise up, lift up, exalt. 1834 Seba Smith Major Jack Downing 139 You..give me a lift into public life, and you've been a boosting me along ever since. 1845 Yale Lit. Mag. XI. 34 (Th.), There is one poor fellow getting his comrade to boost him, while he hangs to the skirts of the one above. 1848–60 Bartlett Dict. Amer. s.v., Boost me up this tree, and I'll hook you some apples. a 1860 N.Y. Herald (Bartlett) Lord Palmerston was boosted into power by the agricultural interest of England. 1884 Harper's Mag. Aug. 484/1 To boost a jurist of so much helpless avoirdupois in through the carriage door. 1887 F. Francis Jr. Saddle & Mocassin 121 If you think that I'm trying to boost the place up because it belongs to us. 1909 Daily Chron. 21 Oct. 3/5 In times like these, when trade and other factors are bad, it is the duty of the Press to ‘boost’ in the interests of the nation, for when trade is good it will ‘boost’ itself. 1923 Wodehouse Inimit. Jeeves ii. 22 Young Bingo must have boosted me to some purpose. 1926 Publishers' Weekly 16 Jan. 147 Perhaps advertising might help boost their sales. |
2. Electr. To increase or otherwise regulate the electromotive force in (a circuit, battery, etc.).
| 1906 A. Russell Theory Altern. Currents II. x. 282 The pressure can be boosted positively or negatively. 1911 Engineer 10 Mar. 237/2 It is far more profitable to boost the pressure at the generating station. 1959 H. Burstein Stereo, How it Works ii. 43 With stereo program material it is no longer necessary to boost the intensity above live concert level to hear fine details. |
3. To steal, esp. to shoplift; to rob. Also absol. Cf. booster 3. slang (orig. U.S.).
| 1912 [implied at booster 3]. 1915 W. Healy Individual Delinquent xviii. 548 He was a booster himself, he had already stolen. He says ‘You come on, I know a place where we can boost.’ 1933 Amer. Speech VIII. 24/2 Boost, steal, especially by shoplifting. 1951 Life 11 June 126/3 Boys turn to picking pockets, car ‘boosting’ and other forms of thievery. 1962 ‘K. Orvis’ Damned & Destroyed xi. 73 Fay blows in. Loaded to the teeth with a bankroll she got for a tray of watches she boosted. 1971 W. Burroughs Speed iii. 65, I boosted a guy that was only in a coma. 1978 C. White They do it All with Mirrors iii. 27 The route to socks took us through jewelry, past a display of rhinestoned smile face pens, two of which she boosted. |
Hence ˈboosting vbl. n. and ppl. a.
| 1906 A. Russell Theory Altern. Currents II. x. 282 When a transformer is used in this fashion it is called an auto-transformer or a boosting transformer, or simply a booster. 1911 A. B. Smith Mod. Amer. Telephony v. 76 When the current is too small for effective transmission of signaling the necessity of ‘boosting’..arises. 1912 Baltimore Amer. 5 Nov., The quiet citizen who has not indulged in boosting will decide the result. 1920 Chambers's Jrnl. Aug. 557/2 These arrangements are supplemented by ‘boosting’ fans at intervals of about 2000 feet. 1962 A. Nisbett Technique Sound Studio i. 17 Switching centres, boosting amplifiers and frequency correction networks on landlines. |
▪ IV. boost
by-form of boose; obs. f. boast.