Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A durable covering for the human foot, made of leather or similar material with a rigid sole and heel, usually extending no higher than the ankle.
  • noun A horseshoe.
  • noun A part or device that is located at the base of something or that functions as a protective covering, as.
  • noun A strip of metal fitted onto the bottom of a sled runner.
  • noun The base for the supports of the superstructure of a bridge.
  • noun The ferrule on the end of a cane.
  • noun The casing of a pneumatic tire.
  • noun A device that retards or stops the motion of an object, as the part of a brake that presses against the wheel or drum.
  • noun The sliding contact plate on an electric train or streetcar that conducts electricity from the third rail.
  • noun A chute, as for conveying grain from a hopper.
  • noun Games A case from which playing cards are dealt one at a time.
  • noun Position; status.
  • noun Plight.
  • transitive verb To furnish or fit with a shoe or shoes.
  • transitive verb To cover with a wooden or metal guard to protect against wear.
  • idiom (the shoe is on the other foot) The circumstances have been reversed; an unequal relationship has been inverted.
  • idiom (wait for the other shoe to drop) To defer action or decision until another matter is finished or resolved.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • A dialectal form of she.
  • noun A sliding-contact device for connecting the moving car on an electric railway with the third rail or with an underground insulated conductor.
  • noun In China, a silver or gold ingot said to be derived from the Dutch goudschuit, boat of gold, applied to the ingots imported from India into China in the seventeenth century.
  • To fit with a shoe or shoes, in any sense: used especially in the preterit and past participle.
  • To cover or arm at a point, as with a ferrule.
  • noun A covering for the human foot, especially an external covering not reaching higher than the ankle, as distinguished from boot, buskin, etc.
  • noun A plate or rim of metal, usually iron, nailed to the hoof of an animal, as a horse, mule, ox, or other beast of burden, to defend it from injury.
  • noun Something resembling a shoe in form, use, or position.
  • noun A drag into which one of the wheels of a vehicle can be set; a skid. It is usually chained to another part of the vehicle, and the wheel resting in it is prevented from turning, so that the speed of the vehicle is diminished: used especially in going downhill.
  • noun The part of a brake which bears against the wheel.
  • noun An inclined trough used in ore-crushing and other mills; specifically, a sloping chute or trough below the hopper of a grain-mill, kept in constant vibration by the damsel (whence also called shaking-shoe), for feeding the grain uniformly to the mill stone. See cuts under mill.
  • noun The iron ferrule, or like fitting, of a handspike, pole, pile, or the like.
  • noun Milit., the ferrule protecting the butt-end of a spear-shaft, handle of a halberd, or the like. It is often pointed or has a sharp edge for planting in the ground, or for a similar use.
  • noun In metallurgy, a piece of chilled iron or steel attached to the end of any part of a machine by which grinding or stamping is done, in order that, as this wears away by use, it may be renewed without the necessity of replacing the whole thing.
  • noun A flat piece of thick plank slightly hollowed out on the upper side to receive the end of a sheer-leg to serve in moving it.
  • noun The step of a mast resting on the keelson.
  • noun The outer piece of the forefoot of a ship.
  • noun In printing. a rude pocket attached to a composing-stand, for the reception of condemned type.
  • noun In ornithology, a formation of the claws of certain storks suggesting a shoe.
  • noun A broad triangular piece of thick plank fastened to an anchor-fluke to extend its area and consequent bearing-surface when sunk in soft ground.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To furnish with a shoe or shoes; to put a shoe or shoes on.
  • transitive verb To protect or ornament with something which serves the purpose of a shoe; to tip.
  • noun A covering for the human foot, usually made of leather, having a thick and somewhat stiff sole and a lighter top. It differs from a boot on not extending so far up the leg.
  • noun Anything resembling a shoe in form, position, or use.
  • noun A plate or rim of iron nailed to the hoof of an animal to defend it from injury.
  • noun A band of iron or steel, or a ship of wood, fastened to the bottom of the runner of a sleigh, or any vehicle which slides on the snow.
  • noun A drag, or sliding piece of wood or iron, placed under the wheel of a loaded vehicle, to retard its motion in going down a hill.
  • noun The part of an automobile or railroad car brake which presses upon the wheel to retard its motion.
  • noun (Arch.) A trough-shaped or spout-shaped member, put at the bottom of the water leader coming from the eaves gutter, so as to throw the water off from the building.
  • noun (Milling.) The trough or spout for conveying the grain from the hopper to the eye of the millstone.
  • noun An inclined trough in an ore-crushing mill.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old English scōh.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English shoo, from Old English scōh ("shoe"), from Proto-Germanic *skōhaz (“shoe", literally "covering”) (cf. Scots shae, West Frisian skoech, Dutch schoen, German Schuh, Swedish sko), from Proto-Indo-European *skeuk- (cf. Tocharian B skāk ‘balcony’), from *(s)keu- (“to cover”). More at sky.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word shoe.

Examples

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • *miss*

    December 16, 2008