Pronounced: AS-uhr-bate, verb
Notes: You may know this word
Yesterday’s word
The word bootless does NOT mean “not wearing a boot”, but “useless; unprofitable” (but see the comments below)
First usage
Our word came into English before 1000
Background / Comments
Okay, our word has been used to mean “not wearing boots”, but our meaning is not related to something you wear on your feet: The boot part of our word came from the Old English word bōt (use; avail). We get the word “better” from this same Old English word.
Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day 