Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A sneaker or rubber overshoe.
- n. Slang An investigator, especially a detective.
- v. Slang To work as a detective.
- v. Slang To move about stealthily; sneak.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A shoe made of gum, that is, india-rubber; a rubber overshoe.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. slang A detective; a private eye.
- n. A shoe made of rubber, as a rubber overshoe.
- n. A sneaker{3}.
WordNet 3.0
- n. someone who is a detective
- n. a waterproof overshoe that protects shoes from water or snow
Examples
“Rome at that time seemed an ideal alternative to the big metropolitan settings of so may 'gumshoe' novels - a huge, dangerous, colourful city that saw itself as the centre of the world.”
“We have no idea if "gumshoe" is a gender-neutral word but we're keeping it that way.”
“Ms. WILLIAMS: When I knew to a moral certainty I was probably in my early 30s because back when I started - unfortunately for me, I do not have - the Internet was not available, so therefore it was the old kind of gumshoe hit the pavement, and that's really hard because, you know, when you face somebody, they can shut the door in your face, and it's not as easy to be able to have the information that today we have at our fingertips.”
“The creator of Philip Marlowe, LA's greatest gumshoe, wanted to be a comparative philologist!”
The Guardian: Rewind radio: One block in Harlem; A coat, a Hat and a Gun; Seeksmusic.com | review
“The classic gumshoe archetype—the hard-drinking, jaded loner with emotional baggage and shrewd instincts—didn't change.”
“After a bit of gumshoe work, the wallet is reunited with Resta.”
The Washington Post: Story pick: Wallet found after 40 years
“The past haunts the present in this wonderful mystery novel featuring Kate Atikinson's regular English "gumshoe," Jackson Brodie, in pursuit of an ex-cop who has run off with an endangered child.”
“Orth told CNN, “In the end, (authorities) reverted to the old gumshoe thing of a stakeout.””
“Reading detective fiction and being able to converse about it at length over an extended period of time were undoubtedly what got me moving in that direction, because in my personal life Ive never been much of a gumshoe or very tough at all.”
“Out Of The Past (1947)- Jeff Bailey (Robert Mitchum) plays a former gumshoe trying to start a new life who gets dragged back in to his old one.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘gumshoe’.
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Shoes
character shoes, duck boots, huaraches, espadrilles, mary janes, sneakers, tennis, stilettos, fuck me pumps, slippers, sandals, flip flops and 93 more...
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Twitter favorites
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favorite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
unfathomably, glice, cuh, fab, ciggaty, doll, thuggin, oxymoronic, pineapple, succubutt, griming, cheeky and 3063 more... -
inkhorn's Words
inkhorn, aplomb, apotheosis, asinine, avatar, bombastic, boorish, bromide, bucolic, cagey, canvass, digress and 991 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, G
grocer, gabanergic, gabardine, gabbro, gaffe, gneiss, grapple, grosgrain, grommet, gratify, gossamer, goofy and 194 more...
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katiad's Words
exquisite, obnoxious, noxious, extravaganza, whirlwind, whirling, wild, spinster, existential, chaos, zephyr, blasphemy and 310 more...
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A spoonful of sugar
Words I should learn/I want to learn/I just learned, with a quotation to help the medicine go down.
approbation, assuage, chicanery, abscond, effrontery, enervation, equivocate, ennui, aftertaste, filibuster, perfunctory, abide and 391 more...
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sionnach's Words
contumely, fomite, holmgang, poltroon, eleemosynary, obsidian, nugatory, grindcore, felch, recrudescent, pyx, parenteral and 3271 more...
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geekwad's Words
mysterium, elif, reckon, shadowy, ostensibly, unique, foodie, surreptitiously, asynchronous, insane, berserk, space pirate and 235 more...
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librarygoblin's words
crystal, ghost, mist, snow, labyrinth, citadel, tomb, mystery, arcane, conundrum, echo, dynamo and 389 more...
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Oofy
States of being
seeress, honey bucket, donkeyman, poopyhead, halfwit, vixenish, galoot, hoity toity, shitkicker, miserabilist, wanker, clueless and 261 more...
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Kaichi's Wordie Darlings, or I'm a Lo...
persnickety, discombobulated, braggadoccio, anthropomorphous, antelucan, confluxible, anomalous, poseur, gallivant, poppycock, falderal, gewgaw and 705 more...
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Words I don't know
impervious, palpable, spiffy, cognate, beckon, pontificate, unequivocally, anathema, equivocal, equivocate, aberration, pilfer and 42 more...
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jerin's Words
ululating, puddle, whorl, huzzah, maharaja, mostaccioli, elizabethan, cat, felicitous, dystopian, larynx, pop and 35 more...
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Words Noir
assassination, stiletto, clubbed, shadowed, vengeance, croaked, guilt, conscience, inheritance, detective, dame, murder and 26 more...
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Snoop
Private dicks.
sherlock, sleuth, hawkshaw, investigator, gumshoe, inquirer, shamus, skip tracer, eye, private eye, private detective, private investigator and 28 more...
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Great Race Horse Names
Most of these horses are currently racing
decidedly, elocutionist, body heat, cicada, skip away, perfect arc, pure tantrum, stephen got even, gullible gal, genuine risk, this dud's for you, bodacious tata's and 74 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for gumshoe.
Prolagus The word gumshoe can be used as an intransitive verb, meaning to work as a detective, but more commonly gumshoe refers to the investigators themselves. While the etymology is a little murky, the term most likely refers to the new soft-soled gum that replaced leather on some shoes in the late 19th century. The soft rubber shoes, precursors to sneakers, sounded quiet on the pavement, allowing the wearer to sneak (get it?) around.
(Read here) Oct 7, 2009