boosts

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of boost.

   A series of confidence boosts turned the team's season around.

   Several funding boosts allowed the lab to hire more researchers.

   Note

   The plural belongs to the countable uses: a push up from below, a bit of help, and the physicist's coordinate transformation that changes velocity. The car enthusiast's boost, the pressure a turbocharger builds in the intake, is uncountable, so engines run on boost, not on boosts. The same spelling also serves as the present-tense verb. A number or determiner in front (two boosts, these boosts) marks the noun.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of boost.

   Regular exercise boosts the body's resistance to common illnesses.

   The coach boosts morale by praising small improvements in practice.

   Note

   Every meaning of the verb is transitive, so this form almost always has an object right after it: exercise boosts resistance, a neighbor boosts a stalled car. That pattern also covers the Canadian jump-start and the slang meaning "steals," so context has to decide whether someone who boosts a car is helping or robbing. With a plural subject or after a modal, the bare boost returns.

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