Definition of "bootblack" [boot•black]

• A person who cleans and polishes shoes for a living. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• ""A bootblack is a nice playmate," said Guy, with his usual sneer."
• "It was certainly remarkable that the boy to whom he had recently offered the position of his bootblack should be a guest of a fashionable New York hotel."
• "The bootblack looked curiously up at him, and he remembered his moosehide moccasins and went away hastily."