Phrase guide

bovver boots

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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1

noun

Meaning 1

Stout lace-up boots, especially Dr. Martens, perceived to be worn for the purpose of kicking people in fights, and popular with skinheads or other troublemakers out looking for bovver.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: plural, plural-only

Qualifier: 1970s UK slang

Examples

  • 1991, Rupert Loydell, review of England's Dreaming: Sex Pistols and Punk Rock, in December 1991-January 1992, ThirdWay, page 41, I remember a punk friend - cockerel haircut, leather trousers, bovver boots, and ripped jumper - being shocked at the TV retrospective of the mid-eighties where long-haired oiks in flared trousers stared desultorily at some screaming youths on stage.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From bovver (“trouble”) + boots.

Across languages

Translations

2 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Dutch: marsheerbotten — bovver boots
  • Polish: glany — bovver boots