jackboot

noun

1. a sturdy leather boot reaching up over the knee, worn especially by soldiers.
2. Also called jackboot tactics. brutally bullying, militaristic, or authoritarian measures.
3. a person who uses such measures.

noun

1. an all-leather military boot, extending up to or above the knee
2. 1. arbitrary, cruel, and authoritarian rule or behaviour
   2. (as modifier)jackboot tactics

n.

also jack-boot, 1680s, type of large, strong cavalry boot of 17c.-18c., later a type worn by German military and para-military units in the Nazi period. From jack (n.), though the exact sense here is unclear + boot (n.1). Figurative of military oppression since 1768. Related: Jackbooted.