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

See Examples For:

boot up

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

Haise and Lovell worked frantically to boot up the lunar module, Aquarius.

From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2025

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

Here’s the part that still remains very much in effect, every time you boot up Zoom:

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2023

With sour making my whole head pucker, with the boy boycott back in full swing, I boot up my laptop and type into The Oracle: Guillermo Garcia and Art Tomorrow, hoping to find Mom’s interview.

From "I'll Give You the Sun" by Jandy Nelson