1. A strap that is looped and sewn to the top of a boot for pulling it on
   "He tugged on the bootstraps to put on his cowboy boots"

1. Help oneself, often through improvised means
   "The startup had to bootstrap its way to success without external funding"
    
2. To start up or develop using minimal resources
   "They bootstrapped their startup without any external funding"
    
3. (computing) start a computer, reloading all software ready for use
   "It takes a few minutes to bootstrap my old laptop";
   - boot, boot up, start up

Derived forms: bootstrapped, bootstraps, bootstrapping

Type of: aid, assist, help, strap

Encyclopedia: Bootstrap