ˈhalf-boot
[half- II. l.]
A boot reaching half-way to the knee, or considerably above the ankle.
| 1787 Cowper Let. 19 Dec., She had half-boots, and laughed at her own figure. 1800 Sporting Mag. XV. 49 Half-boots and gilded spurs were a long time used in common visits. 1801 M. Edgeworth Belinda (1833) II. xix. 26 Persuaded..to lay aside her half boots, and to equip herself in men's whole boots. 1804 Jane Austen Watsons (1879) 340 Nothing sets off a neat ankle more than a half-boot. 1895 Oracle Encycl. I. 587/2 The name Caligula..from his wearing the Caligae, or half-boots of the common soldiers. |