booty
UK /ˈbuːti/ · US /ˈbuti/ noun, verb, adjective, proper noun
Forms booties bootying bootied Bootys bootyn
- noun (nautical) A form of prize which, when a ship was captured at sea, could be distributed at once.
- noun Plunder taken from an enemy in time of war, or seized by piracy.
- noun (figuratively) Something that has been stolen or illegally, mischievously, or greedily obtained from elsewhere. “After returning from their Halloween trick-or-treating, the kids settled down to enjoy their booty of candies.”
- verb (intransitive) To collect booty.
- noun (slang) The buttocks. “You got a big ol' booty.”
- noun (vulgar, slang, uncountable) A person considered as a sexual partner or sex object.
- noun (vulgar, slang) Sexual intercourse.
- adjective (vulgar, slang) Of low quality; bad.
- proper noun A surname.
Synonyms
boodle fang gizzit haul hot property loot pelf pickings pillage plunder prigging sack spoil spoils swag 'tocks arse arse cheeks ass ass cheeks prize dirty money
Etymology
From Middle English buty, botye, bottyne, from Old French butin, botin, from Middle Low German bǖte (“distribution, exchange, loot”), of obscure origin, but related to Middle High German biute, German Beute (“booty”). Possibly ultimately from Proto-Celtic *boudi (“profit, gains; victory”). Sense perhaps influenced by boot (as in to boot).
Probably an alteration of botty. Possibly influenced by booty (etymology 1).
From boot.
Unexplained.
Webster’s 1913
- noun That which is seized by violence or obtained by robbery, especially collective spoil taken in war; plunder; pillage. Milton.
Etymology [Cf. Icel. b exchange, barter, Sw. byte barter, booty, Dan. bytte; akin to D. buit booty, G. beute, and fr. Icel. byta, Sw. byta, Dan. bytte, to distribute, exchange. The Scandinavian word was influenced in English by boot profit.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “booty”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details