Definition of "bootjack" [boot•jack]

• A forked device for holding a boot secure while the foot is being withdrawn. (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.

• "He backed away in search of the bootjack, making like it was all a big joke."
• "Mr. Grewgious, bolt upright as usual, sat taking his wine in the dusk at his open window; his wineglass and decanter on the round table at his elbow; himself and his legs on the window – seat; only one hinge in his whole body, like a bootjack."
• "‘All right,’ said the ‘Admiral,’ and off the thing thundered, like a fire – engine at full gallop, with the kidnapped customer inside, standing in the position of a half doubled – up bootjack, and falling about with every jerk of the machine, first on the one side, and then on the other, like a"