Meanings
- humorousinformalDismissal.
I have been talking to Pasley . . . He was at the same school with Alec Waugh and confirms the story of his getting the order of the boot.
1919, C.S. Lewis, Letter to Arthur Greeves, 16 February 1919 in Collected Letters, Vol. I, page 4352 more examples
The Hon. Mr. SULLIVAN said, what did J. A. Lee get? He got the “order of the boot", as also did Mr. Barnard, because he would not agree with some of the doings of the Labour party.
1953, New Zealand. Parliament, Parliamentary Debates, volume 298, page 964Freedom has come to Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union has shriveled as a world power, the people of Nicaragua have given Danny Ortega the Order of the Boot, and all because of us and our brave revival of the Red Scare.
2007, The American Spectator's Enemies List
Origin
An allusion to orders such as the Order of the Garter, and the phrase get the boot.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
order of the boot. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/order%20of%20the%20boot
“order of the boot.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/order%20of%20the%20boot. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “order of the boot,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/order%20of%20the%20boot.
Source: order of the boot on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.