boot straps
Self-help metaphor components
Boot straps are the loops or tabs sewn into the top of a boot, used to pull the boot onto the foot.
The phrase pull yourself up by your bootstraps originally described an impossible act—lifting yourself off the ground by tugging your own boot straps—but now means to succeed through your own effort without outside help.
In computing, bootstrapping refers to a system loading itself: The computer boots from the boot straps of its startup sequence.
- pullForce toward oneself
- pull yourself upRaise your body upward
- leatherTanned animal skin
- self-madeSuccessful through own efforts
- rags to richesDramatic upward social mobility
self made man · grit · hustle · startup · determination · hard work · work ethic · sweat equity · loops · heels · tugging · cowboy · rugged · lifting · independence · from scratch · work · climb
- legwearknee socks, knee highs, thigh highs, ankle socks, leg warmers
boot strapssilver spoon
Symbol of inherited wealth
handout · handouts · welfare · inheritance · nepotism