bootblack

noun

Etymology

From boot + black.

  1. inherited from *bʰleg-
  2. inherited from *blakaz
  3. inherited from *blak
  4. inherited from blæc
  5. inherited from blak
  6. compounded as bootblack — “boot + black

Definitions

  1. A shoeshine boy

    A shoeshine boy; a person who shines shoes as an occupation.

    • The young negro bootblack hummed "The Camp Meeting Blues" and polished in rhythm to his tune, drawing the shiny shoe-rag so taut at each stroke that it snapped like a banjo string.
  2. To shine shoes.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for bootblack. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA