bootstrap: Meaning and Definition of

boot•strap

1. a loop of leather or cloth sewn at the top rear, or sometimes on each side, of a boot to facilitate pulling it on.
2. a means of advancing oneself or accomplishing something: He used his business experience as a bootstrap to win voters.
3. to help oneself without the aid of others; use one's resources: I admire him for pulling himself up by his own bootstraps.

1. relying entirely on one's efforts and resources: The business was a bootstrap operation for the first ten years.
2. self-generating or self-sustaining: a bootstrap process.

1. boot (def. 26).
2. to help (oneself&hasp;) without the aid of others: She spent years bootstrapping herself through college.