“抵制”一词之所以进入英语，是因为1880年一位名叫“抵制”的人与爱尔兰土地联盟（Irish Land League）发生争执。

抵制运动的名字是从哪里来的

查尔斯·博克特上尉是一名英国退伍军人，他是一名房东的经纪人，他的工作是向爱尔兰西北部一处庄园的佃农收取租金。当时，地主（其中许多是英国人）正在剥削爱尔兰佃农。作为抗议的一部分，抵制活动开展地的农民要求降低租金。

抵制组织拒绝了他们的要求，驱逐了一些房客。爱尔兰土地联盟（Irish Land League）主张该地区的人们不要攻击抵制，而是使用一种新的策略：拒绝与他做生意。

这种新形式的抗议是有效的，因为抵制并不能让工人收割庄稼。到1880年底，英国的报纸开始使用这个词。

1880年12月6日，《纽约时报》的头版文章提到了“抵制上尉”事件，并用“抵制主义”一词来描述爱尔兰土地联盟的战术。

美国报纸的研究表明，这个词在19世纪80年代横渡大洋。19世纪80年代末，美国的“抵制”在《纽约时报》上被提及。这个词通常用来表示针对企业的劳工行动。

例如，1894年的普尔曼罢工成为一场全国性的危机，当时抵制铁路导致全国铁路系统瘫痪。

抵制船长于1897年去世，1897年6月22日《纽约时报》的一篇文章指出，他的名字已成为一个常见的词：

"Capt. Boycott became famous through the application of his name to the relentless social and business ostracism first practiced by the Irish peasantry against the detested representatives of landlordism in Ireland. Although a descendant of an old Essex County family in England, Capt. Boycott was an Irishman by birth. He made his appearance in County Mayo in 1863 and according to James Redpath, he had not lived there five years before he won the reputation of being the worst land agent in that section of the country."

1897年的报纸文章也提供了以他的名字命名的策略。它描述了查尔斯·斯图尔特·帕内尔（Charles Stewart Parnell）如何在1880年爱尔兰埃尼斯（Ennis）的一次演讲中提出一项排斥土地代理人的计划。并详细描述了该战术是如何用于抵制船长的：

"When the Captain sent for the tenantry on the estates for which he was agent to cut the oats, the whole neighborhood combined in a refusal to work for him. Boycott's herdsmen and drivers were sought out and persuaded to strike, his female servants were induced to leave him, and his wife and children were obliged to do all of the house and farm work themselves. "Meanwhile his oats and corn remained standing, and his stock would have been unfed had he not exerted himself night and day to attend to their wants. Next the village butcher and grocer declined to sell provisions to Capt. Boycott or his family, and when he sent to neighboring towns for supplies he found it absolutely impossible to get anything. There was no fuel in the house, and nobody would cut turf or carry coal for the Captain's family. He had to tear up floors for firewood."

今天抵制

抵制的策略在20世纪适应了其他社会运动。美国历史上最重要的抗议运动之一，蒙哥马利巴士抵制，展示了这一策略的力量。

为了抗议城市公交车上的种族隔离，阿拉巴马州蒙哥马利市的非裔美国人从1955年末到1956年末连续300多天拒绝乘坐公交车。巴士抵制激发了20世纪60年代的民权运动，改变了美国历史的进程。

随着时间的推移，这个词已经变得相当普遍，它与爱尔兰和19世纪末的土地风潮的联系也被普遍遗忘。