Fromboot +black.
bootblack (pluralbootblacks)
- (dated) Ashoeshine boy; a person who shines shoes as an occupation.
1922,Sinclair Lewis, chapter 24, inBabbitt, New York, N.Y.:Harcourt, Brace and Company,→OCLC:The young negrobootblack hummed "The Camp Meeting Blues" and polished in rhythm to his tune, drawing the shiny shoe-rag so taut at each stroke that it snapped like a banjo string.
bootblack (third-person singular simple presentbootblacks,present participlebootblacking,simple past and past participlebootblacked)
- (transitive) To shine shoes.
