"bovver boots" meaning in English

See bovver boots in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Etymology: From bovver (“trouble”) + boots. Head templates: {{en-noun|p|head=bovver boots}} bovver boots pl (plural only)
  1. (1970s British slang) Stout lace-up boots, especially Dr. Martens, perceived to be worn for the purpose of kicking people in fights, and popular with skinheads or other troublemakers out looking for bovver. Tags: plural, plural-only Translations (bovver boots): marsheerbotten (Dutch), glany (Polish)
{
  "etymology_text": "From bovver (“trouble”) + boots.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "p",
        "head": "bovver boots"
      },
      "expansion": "bovver boots pl (plural only)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "British English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English pluralia tantum",
          "parents": [
            "Pluralia tantum",
            "Nouns",
            "Lemmas"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Dutch translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Polish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1970 March 29, Nik Cohn, “England's New Teen Style Is Violence”, in The New York Times, →ISSN",
          "text": "Their byword is Aggro (Aggravation) and their crucial enemies are hippies, homosexuals and Pakis (Pakistanis or Indians). When they catch one, they use their shaven skulls for butting, their Bovverboots for caving in ribs.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "text": "1991, Rupert Loydell, review of England's Dreaming: Sex Pistols and Punk Rock, in December 1991-January 1992, ThirdWay, page 41,\nI remember a punk friend - cockerel haircut, leather trousers, bovver boots, and ripped jumper - being shocked at the TV retrospective of the mid-eighties where long-haired oiks in flared trousers stared desultorily at some screaming youths on stage."
        },
        {
          "ref": "2006, Stuart Hall, Tony Jefferson, Resistance Through Rituals: Youth Subcultures in Post-War Britain, 2nd edition, page 42",
          "text": "The various youth subcultures have been identified by their possessions and objects: the boot-lace tie and velvet-colourd drape jacket of the Ted, the close crop, parker coats and scooter of the Mod, the stained jeans, swastikas and ornamented motorcycles of the bike-boys, the bovver boots and skinned-head of the Skinhead, the Chicago suits or glitter costumes of the Bowieites, etc.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2011, Christine Barter, David Berridge, Children Behaving Badly: Peer Violence Between Children and Young People, page 96",
          "text": "Their image of racism was not what our political culture has come to expect – that is, the Nazi, the shaven-headed skinhead with bovver boots. Rather, they were stylishly dressed in suits and wearing Ben Sherman shirts and Armani sunglasses.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Stout lace-up boots, especially Dr. Martens, perceived to be worn for the purpose of kicking people in fights, and popular with skinheads or other troublemakers out looking for bovver."
      ],
      "id": "en-bovver_boots-en-noun-0wnkLSVt",
      "links": [
        [
          "skinhead",
          "skinhead"
        ],
        [
          "troublemaker",
          "troublemaker"
        ],
        [
          "bovver",
          "bovver#English"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "1970s British slang",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(1970s British slang) Stout lace-up boots, especially Dr. Martens, perceived to be worn for the purpose of kicking people in fights, and popular with skinheads or other troublemakers out looking for bovver."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "plural",
        "plural-only"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "bovver boots",
          "word": "marsheerbotten"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "bovver boots",
          "word": "glany"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "bovver boots"
}
{
  "etymology_text": "From bovver (“trouble”) + boots.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "p",
        "head": "bovver boots"
      },
      "expansion": "bovver boots pl (plural only)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "British English",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
        "English pluralia tantum",
        "English slang",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Terms with Dutch translations",
        "Terms with Polish translations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1970 March 29, Nik Cohn, “England's New Teen Style Is Violence”, in The New York Times, →ISSN",
          "text": "Their byword is Aggro (Aggravation) and their crucial enemies are hippies, homosexuals and Pakis (Pakistanis or Indians). When they catch one, they use their shaven skulls for butting, their Bovverboots for caving in ribs.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "text": "1991, Rupert Loydell, review of England's Dreaming: Sex Pistols and Punk Rock, in December 1991-January 1992, ThirdWay, page 41,\nI remember a punk friend - cockerel haircut, leather trousers, bovver boots, and ripped jumper - being shocked at the TV retrospective of the mid-eighties where long-haired oiks in flared trousers stared desultorily at some screaming youths on stage."
        },
        {
          "ref": "2006, Stuart Hall, Tony Jefferson, Resistance Through Rituals: Youth Subcultures in Post-War Britain, 2nd edition, page 42",
          "text": "The various youth subcultures have been identified by their possessions and objects: the boot-lace tie and velvet-colourd drape jacket of the Ted, the close crop, parker coats and scooter of the Mod, the stained jeans, swastikas and ornamented motorcycles of the bike-boys, the bovver boots and skinned-head of the Skinhead, the Chicago suits or glitter costumes of the Bowieites, etc.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2011, Christine Barter, David Berridge, Children Behaving Badly: Peer Violence Between Children and Young People, page 96",
          "text": "Their image of racism was not what our political culture has come to expect – that is, the Nazi, the shaven-headed skinhead with bovver boots. Rather, they were stylishly dressed in suits and wearing Ben Sherman shirts and Armani sunglasses.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Stout lace-up boots, especially Dr. Martens, perceived to be worn for the purpose of kicking people in fights, and popular with skinheads or other troublemakers out looking for bovver."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "skinhead",
          "skinhead"
        ],
        [
          "troublemaker",
          "troublemaker"
        ],
        [
          "bovver",
          "bovver#English"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "1970s British slang",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(1970s British slang) Stout lace-up boots, especially Dr. Martens, perceived to be worn for the purpose of kicking people in fights, and popular with skinheads or other troublemakers out looking for bovver."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "plural",
        "plural-only"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "bovver boots",
      "word": "marsheerbotten"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "bovver boots",
      "word": "glany"
    }
  ],
  "word": "bovver boots"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-09-01 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-08-20 using wiktextract (8e41825 and f99c758). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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