boot up

Idioms  

1. Start a computer, as in When you've booted up, it's best not to turn off the computer until you're done for the day. The term, dating from the late 1970s, was a shortening of bootstrap, another computer idiom referring to using one set of instructions to load another set of instructions. Also see log in.

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Example Sentences

So every day after school, I’d sprint down to my family’s basement and boot up our enormous Gateway 2000 computer.

From Slate • Aug. 12, 2025

Fly-half Holly Aitchison has had a mixed tournament with the boot up until this match, with Mitchell saying in the week he had no concerns over her kicking and being proved correct in Bordeaux.

From BBC • Apr. 27, 2024

The region boasts the largest reserves of lithium in the world, which make up the lithium-ion batteries that boot up the electronic devices used by billions around the globe.

From National Geographic • Jan. 11, 2024

Students at the Greenville, N.C., university say when Polito, 67, would boot up his computer screen, there was always a Las Vegas-themed backdrop.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 9, 2023

I sit up in bed and grab my laptop, turn it on and wait impatiently for it to boot up, then log on to the Internet.

From "The Girl on the Train" by Paula Hawkins