LIKE OLD BOOTS, phr. (common).—A general and irrelevant comparison. See LIKE.
1850. F. E. SMEDLEY, Frank Fairlegh, xxv. He … drove his heels into ‘Tom Trot’—that’s the new grey horse, sir, if you please—and was out of sight LIKE OLD BOOTS.
1864. HOTTEN, The Slang Dictionary, s.v. OLD BOOTS … ‘As cheeky as OLD BOOTS;’ ‘As quick as OLD BOOTS,’ seem a little more reasonable, new boots being somewhat unfavourable to speedy locomotion.
1865. M. E. BRADDON, Sir Jasper’s Tenant, xxvii. p. 282. I’ll stick to you LIKE OLD BOOTS.
1874. The Saturday Review, Jan., 55. An Oxford man, nay even a Balliol man … introduced in the story a pleasing change by such a phrase as jawing away LIKE OLD BOOTS.
1892. MILLIKEN, ’Arry Ballads, 33. I jest blew away LIKE OLD BOOTS.
