jackbooted

adj

1. (not-comparable)Wearing jackboots.

   “a jackbooted thug”

   “For, as the mighty cavalcades approach / Periwigg’d, Jackbooted, to announce the coach; / A thousand lamps spontaneously appear, / Through the long vista—visitors to cheer.— [...]”

   “[T]he four stallions that drew us kicked, plunged, snorted, and screamed, in full concert with the eternal smack of the whips, as well as shrieks, whoops, and oaths of the jackbooted postillions, lugging about out little barouche in a manner that threatened its demolition at every instant.”

   “The synod of the Russian Church is presided over by a jackbooted general, armed with an unlimited veto and full power of prorogation. Of course such a Church is but a tool to assist political objects, to give a colour of right to political intrigue, to stir up religious enthusiasm in favour of acts of piracy and unlawful war.”

   “He loved to see him in review uniform—so much more delightful than plain khaki—pale blue, white, and gold, in full panoply of accoutrement, jackbooted and spurred, and with the great turban that made his English face look more English still.”

2. (figuratively, not-comparable)Authoritarian or oppressive, especially in a cruel or violent manner.

   “[T]his discourse is highly reminiscent of anticommunist rhetoric [...] emphasizing the totalitarian, jackbooted character of the enemy.”

   “By 1797, they had overturned elections, vitiated the modest religious liberty they had sanctioned, and finally installed the "jackbooted-justice" of military courts throughout the nation.”

   “It is worth noting again that the word [Friedrich] Nietzsche uses is Macht, not Reich, and thus might be better understood as personal strength rather than political power. It does not mean "power" in the nasty, jackbooted sense that still sends flutters up the European spine. The term means something like effective self-realization and expression.”

   “[Béla] Bartók risks accusations of simplistic gesturing [...] which make the central episode (bars 80–114) seem miscalculated as a parody of mindless, tasteless folk improvisation rather than a passionately 'natural' countering of jackbooted violence.”

   “The jackbooted origins of his party, which he was working so carefully to hide, marching back into the limelight.”

verb

1. (form-of, participle, past)simple past and past participle of jackboot