Dictionary

bootstrappy en · ADJ

Etymology

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

Meanings

1. (informal) Hard-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:
   • 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:
   • 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:

Forms