boot·strap·per /ˈbo͞otˌstrapər/ Learn to pronounce
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noun
1. a person who relies on their own resources to solve a problem or pursue an undertaking. "there are the blue bloods, and there are the bootstrappers, who've pulled themselves up from the lower classes"
2. COMPUTING another term for bootstrap (sense 2 of the noun). "the bootstrapper provides several overridable methods to configure and extend the start-up routine" Bootstrap refers to a process that is akin to picking oneself up by the bootstraps. The idea is that it is physically impossible to lift yourself by bending over and trying to "lift".
Bootstrapping refers to doing exactly that but in a way analogous to physics. Computing is the most common area I hear the term. A program that bootstraps itself is one that begins with an extremely trivial operation and then uses that to continue the startup process internally. In a strict sense, the program does need help for the very first step but once that happens it doesn't need any external help.
