bootblack

boot +‎ black

bootblack (plural bootblacks)

1. (dated) A shoeshine boy; a person who shines shoes as an occupation.
   • 1922, Sinclair Lewis, “24”, in Babbitt:

     The young negro bootblack hummed "The Camp Meeting Blues" and polished in rhythm to his tune, drawing the shiny shoe-rag so taut at each stroke that it snapped like a banjo string.

• shoeblack
• shoeshiner

bootblack (third-person singular simple present bootblacks, present participle bootblacking, simple past and past participle bootblacked)

1. (transitive) To shine shoes.