Definitions
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb idiomatic To begin an
enterprise or recover from asetback without anyoutside help ; tosucceed only on one's owneffort orabilities .
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Early 19th century US; attested 1834. In original use, often used to refer to pulling oneself over a fence, and implying that someone is attempting or has claimed some ludicrously far-fetched or impossible task. Presumably a variant on a traditional tall tale, as elaborated below. The shift in sense to a possible task appears to have developed in the early 20th century, and the use of the phrase to mean “a ludicrous task” continued into the 1920s.
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word pull oneself up by one's bootstraps.
Examples
Sorry, no example sentences found.
Comments
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.