Obs. Also Sc. 6 buting, butting. [f. BOOT sb.2 or v.2 + -ING1: but sense 1 seems to have begun as a misunderstanding of BUTIN ‘booty,’ mistaken for a vbl. sb. in -ING.]
1. Booty, plunder; = BUTIN.
a. 1572. Knox, Hist. Ref., Wks. 1846, I. 79. Small butting thei caryed away.
1597. Montgomerie, Cherrie & Slae, xv. Quhair flew ye, quhom slew ye, or quha brings hame the buting?
c. 1600. Rob. Hood (Ritson), I. iii. 3. I’ll tell you of a brave booting That befell Robin Hood.
2. Taking of booty, plundering: cf. freebooting.
1651. Hobbes, Govt. & Soc., xiii. § 14. 203. Under the notion of Booting or taking prey.
