Booter

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈbuːtɚ/

Definitions

1. A device or tool that disrupts or disables computer networks ; a person who removes a booting device from a vehicle's wheel
2. An instrument used to carry out network attacks by overwhelming a system ; an individual who takes off immobilizing devices from cars
3. A tool intended to interrupt online services by overloading systems ; a person whose role is to unfasten wheel locks placed on vehicles

Etymology: The word "booter" is a simple formation: it combines "boot" with the agent suffix "-er," producing a noun for someone or something that performs the action of booting. In the older sense, a "boot" is the verb meaning to clamp a vehicle's wheel, so a booter was the person who did the clamping, the wheel-lock fitter. The sense of a tool that knocks online services offline came later, when "boot" took on the computing meaning of starting up a system, and the same agent suffix was attached to describe software and services that could be used to knock other systems off line. Because the word is built from familiar parts rather than borrowed, its meaning follows directly from the verb. Both senses share a logic of forcing something into a particular state: one immobilises a car, the other takes a network out of service.