Wiktionary

suited and booted

English edit

WOTD – 11 July 2023

Etymology edit

From suited (“wearing a suit”, adjective) + and + booted (“wearing a boot or boots”, adjective), the words chosen for the rhyme.

Pronunciation edit

Adjective edit

suited and booted (not comparable) (chiefly British, informal)

  1. (originally South Asia) Dressed smartly, especially in business or formal wear.
    Synonym: (South Asia) suited-booted
    • 1876 November 30, “Local notices [advertisements]”, in Ja[me]s M. Cavaness, editor, Southern Kansas Advance, volume 8, number 47 (number 411 overall), Chetopa, Kan.: Jas. M. Cavaness, page 3, column 3:
      You can get Suited and Booted at such figures as will astonish you at the Star Store.
    • [1928 December 19, “Screen Life in Hollywood: Tailored shoes”, in Mandan Daily Pioneer, volume XV, number 198, Mandan, N.D.: Pioneer Publishing Co., →OCLC, page 4, column 5:
      Heroines will be suited and booted in tweeds this winter. Anyway, that is Dorothy Mackaill's latest street costume; a tweed suit and shoes of the same material trimmed with a little leather.]
    • 1965 August 7, The Guardian Journal, number J43,507, G34,027, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire: T. Bailey Forman, →OCLC, page 3, column 3:
      Jauntily suited and booted, Kathy Sheron (15), of Whitson-road, Huntington Station, New York, arrives in London to claim her prize. Kathy has won the Dave Clark Five—the British Beat Group—in a national contest, along with the title, "Miss Natural Wonder."
    • 1974 November, “The Ultimate in Suede Suited and Booted for Individualists [advertisement]”, in John H[arold] Johnson, editor, Ebony, volume XXX, number 1, Chicago, Ill.: Johnson Publishing Co., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 6:
      The ultimate in suede suited and booted for individualists [title]
    • 1999, S. Krishnan, “Talkative Man [Introduction]”, in R[asipuram] K[rishnaswami Iyer] Narayan[aswami], edited by S. Krishnan, A Town Called Malgudi: The Finest Fiction of R. K. Narayan […], New Delhi, New York, N.Y.: Penguin Books, published 2002, →ISBN, page 259:
      In this novella, the TM [Talkative Man] meets Dr Rann, who claims to be a United Nations specialist, and unable to find a place for the strange visitor—who, as they used to say, was suited and booted—takes him to his own house.
    • 2002, Tony Parsons, chapter 13, in Man and Wife, special overseas edition, London: HarperCollins, published 2003, →ISBN, part 2 (Your Heart is a Small Miracle), page 132:
      A couple of suited and booted business types appeared by my side, tossing peanuts into their mouths and gawping at the screens as though they had never seen a television before. They couldn't be from the TV station or any of the production companies that made the shows, because they were far too formally dressed.
    • 2006, Flores Alexander Forbes, chapter 11, in Will You Die with Me?: My Life and the Black Panther Party, 1st trade paperback edition, New York, N.Y.: Washington Square Press, Simon & Schuster, published July 2007, →ISBN, page 81:
      When Bobby and Elaine showed up at a candidate's night or event or at just another speaking engagement, the chairman was wearing a suit and tie and Elaine was suited and booted in a dress, heels, the whole nine yards.
    • 2006, Badri Narayan, “Visuals, Cultural Performances and Myths”, in Women Heroes and Dalit Assertion in North India: Culture, Identity and Politics (Cultural Subordination and the Dalit Challenge; 5), New Delhi, Thousand Oaks, Calif: Sage Publications, →ISBN, page 76:
      Initially, his [Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar's] photograph was popularized through posters and pamphlets published and distributed by the RPI [Republican Party of India] for disseminating information about forthcoming meetings. The image was that of a suited and booted, westernized gentleman holding a copy of the Constitution in one hand. This image appeared to the common Dalits as a symbol of awareness through education and the fight for a better future. It also helped deconstruct the stereotypical notion of Dalits as being oppressed, suppressed and illiterate.
    • 2020, M. S. Batham, chapter 6, in Love, Vengeance, and Lies, Garibaldi Highlands, Squamish, B.C.: eXtasy Books, →ISBN, page 64:
      When she finally slept, it was to dream relentlessly of Michael. One moment he would be standing behind his desk, suited and booted, the next they would be naked in bed together, his glare boring into her soul, […]
  2. (figuratively) Dressed, equipped, or otherwise well prepared for a certain situation.
    • 1983, Hazel D’Lima, “Social Outlook and Awareness of Respondents”, in Women in Local Government: A Study of Maharashtra, New Delhi: Concept Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 95:
      An older respondent, aged 65, humorously commented on the modern prospective son-in-law: “He only wants a watch, a ring, a gold chain, to be ‘suited’ and ‘booted’.” It was not so much caste or education that stood in the way—a good dowry was the answer!
    • 2012, Nicety [pseudonym], “Worship”, in Killing Me Softly, Chicago, Ill.: Black Cherry Publishing, →ISBN, pages 235–236:
      She rumbled through her dresser drawer finding an old pair of sweats with a sports bra and tank top sliding into them quickly. She put on a thick pair of tube socks and laced up her Timbs. Suited and booted she went downstairs to wait for them to arrive.
    • 2014, Diana Bretherick, “Language of the Unheard: Riots in Popular Culture”, in David Pritchard, Francis Pakes, editors, Riot, Unrest and Protest on the Global Stage, Basingstoke, Hampshire, New York, N.Y.: Palgrave Macmillan, →DOI, →ISBN, page 68:
      A man talks of 'the filth [police] displaying their strength … Suited and booted waiting to tear your fucking arse off. So we got ready to tear their arses off. This is war.'
    • 2018 November, Jamie Sawyer, “Suited and Rebooted”, in The Eternity War: Book Two: Exodus, 1st US edition, New York, N.Y.: Orbit, →ISBN:
      I stared back at my squad, now all suited and booted and ready to roll. Helmets locked in place, fully vacuum-sealed.

Translations edit

dressed, equipped, or otherwise well prepared for a certain situation — see equipped,‎ prepared

Further reading edit

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