English

Noun

booty ‎(plural booties)

1. (nautical) A form of prize which, when a ship was captured at sea, could be distributed at once.
2. Plunder taken from an enemy in time of war, or seized by piracy.
   • 1818, George Crabb, English Synonymes Explained, in Alphabetical Order: With Copious Illustrations and Examples Drawn from the Best Writers, 2nd edition, London: Printed for Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy; and T[homas] Boosey, OCLC 560181292, page 162:

     The soldier gets his booty ; the combatant his spoils ; the carnivorous animal his prey. Booty respects what is of personal service to the captor ; spoils whatever serves to designate his triumph ; prey includes whatever gratifies the appetite and is to be consumed.

   • 2012 April 26, Tasha Robinson, “The Pirates! Band of Misfits”, in The Onion AV Club:

     Hungry for fame and the approval of rare-animal collector Queen Victoria (Imelda Staunton), Darwin deceives the Captain and his crew into believing they can get enough booty to win the pirate competition by entering Polly in a science fair. So the pirates journey to London in cheerful, blinkered defiance of the Queen, a hotheaded schemer whose royal crest reads simply “I hate pirates.”

3. (figuratively) Something that has been stolen or legally obtained from elsewhere.

   After returning from their Halloween trick-or-treating, the kids settled down to enjoy their booty of candies.

   • 1762, Charles Johnstone, The Reverie; or, A Flight to the Paradise of Fools, volume 2, Dublin: Printed by Dillon Chamberlaine, OCLC 519072825, pages 202–203:

     [H]e ſtood ſtill till ſhe came to him, and then, ſpreading his arms in her way, caught her, loaded as ſhe was with the pieces of candles, with which ſhe had filled the forepart of her ſhift; for ſhe had, in her haste, forgot to bring any thing to carry them off. […] If ſhe ſpoke to refuſe him, ſhe knew her voice would betray her, and ſhe ſhould be exposed for ever, at the same time that the fear of loſing her booty prevented her letting go her hold to ſtruggle with him, and ſtrive to repel force by force.

   • 1818, George Crabb, English Synonymes Explained, in Alphabetical Order: With Copious Illustrations and Examples Drawn from the Best Writers, 2nd edition, London: Printed for Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy; and T[homas] Boosey, OCLC 560181292, page 162:

     Booty and prey are often used in an extended sense. Plunderers obtain a rich booty ; the diligent bee returns loaded with its booty.

Related terms

• boodle

Translations

Coordinate terms

• loot

Etymology 2

Probably an alteration of botty. Possibly influenced by booty (etymology 1).

Noun

booty ‎(plural booties)

1. (slang) The buttocks.

   You got a big ol' booty.

   • 1976, Harry Wayne Casey & Richard Finch (music), “(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty”, in Part 3, performed by KC and the Sunshine Band:

     Aah, everybody, get on the floor / Let's dance / Don't fight the feeling / Give yourself a chance / Shake shake shake, shake shake shake / Shake your booty, shake your booty / Oh, shake shake shake, shake shake shake / Shake your booty, shake your booty

   • 1997 June–July, Michael A. Gonzales, “Toni's secret: Miss Braxton lets it all hang out”, in Vibe, volume 5, number 5, New York, N.Y.: Time Publishing Ventures; Intermedia Vibe Holdings, ISSN 1070-4701, page 92:

     After a triumphant performance at this year's American Music Awards, Toni [Braxton] walked offstage backward. "It was a see-through dress," explains Singletary. "She felt like her booty was her business." "I wear provocative clothes because they make me feel sexy," Toni says without apology. "If an artist like Madonna is wearing her booty hanging out, she's considered a genius. But if a black person does it, we're considered **** whores or ****."

   • 2004, Fannie Lillian Miles Bellamy, Defaming Teddy: A Father Falsely Accused, Pittsburgh, Penn.: Dorrance Publishing Co., ISBN 978-0-8059-6270-3, page 6:

     She didn't like it when he touched her and indicated her clitoral area and buttocks. […] Patty also commented that her daddy has played with her **** and put toys in [her] booty. […] Her father made her touch his private stuff, "his **** and booty." […] In her sleep when Mrs. Porter was babysitting, Patty was observed to pull down her diaper and manipulate her clitoris and try to insert her finger into her "booty".

   • 2013, Cathryn Parry, Out of His League, Richmond, Surrey: Mills & Boon, ISBN 978-1-4720-1656-0, Chapter 9:

     When she turned her back to the mirror, the spandex in the material clung tightly to her booty. Ugh. She was even calling her derriere a "booty," because that's what her eight-year-old, cartoon-watching nephew called it. Whatever the name for her overcurvaceous backside, it was the bane of her existence. She simply sat too much. Even the two ballet classes a week she took at work, in the hospital exercise studio, did not help. If anything, they made her "booty" even "bootier".

2. (slang, not countable) A person considered as sexual partner or sex object.
   • 2000, Shaft (film)

     It’s my duty to please that booty.

Translations

Derived terms

Etymology 3

From boot.

Noun

booty ‎(plural booties)

1. Alternative spelling of bootee