bootstrappy

B3O1O1T1S1T1R1A1P3P3Y4

adjective

Hard-working, self-reliant, and enterprising.

Scrabble 20
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Meanings

adjectivebootstrappy (comparative more bootstrappy, superlative most bootstrappy)

comparative more bootstrappy · superlative most bootstrappy

  1. informalHard-working, self-reliant, and enterprising.

    My mom nodded her approval. It was "very bootstrappy" to work late.

    2014, L. Alison Heller, The Never Never Sisters, unnumbered page
    2 more examples

    Unwilling to accept the strictures of the Russian Orthodox Church, they demonstrated a very bootstrappy, can-do attitude by simply inventing their own religion from scratch.

    2011, Alina Simone, You Must Go and Win: Essays, pages 148–149

    Look at me, climbing the ladder at KCN: I was a perfect example of that bootstrappy, self-reliant, equal-opportunity American spirit.

    2019, Anna Pitoniak, Necessary People, unnumbered page

Origin

From the idiomatic phrase pull oneself up by one's bootstraps.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

bootstrappy. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bootstrappy

MLA

“bootstrappy.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bootstrappy. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bootstrappy,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bootstrappy.

Source: bootstrappy on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.