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pull oneself up by the bootstraps
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Idioms and Phrases
Succeed by one's own efforts, as in She was homeless for nearly two years, but she managed to pull herself up by the bootstraps . This expression alludes to pulling on high boots by means of the straps or loops attached to them at the top. [Early 1900s]Advertisement
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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