order of the boot

English

Etymology

An allusion to orders such as the Order of the Garter, and the phrase get the boot.

Proper noun

the order of the boot

1. (informal, humorous) Dismissal.
   • 1919, C.S. Lewis, Letter to Arthur Greeves, 16 February 1919 in Collected Letters, Vol. I, page 435:

     I have been talking to Pasley . . . He was at the same school with Alec Waugh and confirms the story of his getting the order of the boot.

   • 1953, New Zealand. Parliament, Parliamentary Debates, volume 298, page 964:

     The Hon. Mr. SULLIVAN said, what did J. A. Lee get? He got the “order of the boot", as also did Mr. Barnard, because he would not agree with some of the doings of the Labour party.

   • 2007, The American Spectator's Enemies List:

     Freedom has come to Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union has shriveled as a world power, the people of Nicaragua have given Danny Ortega the Order of the Boot, and all because of us and our brave revival of the Red Scare.