boot-black

Only a man who had to remain still while his shoes were polished by a boot-black, was completely captured on Daguerre's silvered copper plate.

Never Yet Melted 2009

But the congressional grip on State Department appointments kept Hay from naming so much as a boot-black, and he had to bide his time.

The Five of Hearts Patricia O'Toole 2008

But the congressional grip on State Department appointments kept Hay from naming so much as a boot-black, and he had to bide his time.

The Five of Hearts Patricia O'Toole 2008

And according to my most reliable local informant, a boot-black who plied his trade around the corner from the hotel, Baker was the most active of the three northern forts.

The Beekeeper's Apprentice King, Laurie R. 2006

Clemens was making some notes, Poetzl interested the various passers by asking each one — the errand-boy, the boot-black, the chestnut-vender, cabmen, and others — to guess who the stranger was and what he wanted.

Mark Twain: A Biography 2003

The first question Liza asked was whether they had a manicure, hair-dresser and boot-black in the village.

Defenders of Democracy; contributions from representative men and women of letters and other arts from our allies and our own country, edited by the Gift book committee of the Militia of Mercy

It was a recognition that one might throw to his boot-black.

The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 03, No. 19, May, 1859 Various

So utterly did they ignore the Etruscans, who made them what they were, that you seek in vain to find in Roman history any thing but the barest outline of the origin of a people so graceful and refined that the Roman citizen was a boot-black in comparison to one of them.

The Continental Monthly, Vol. 1, No. 6, June, 1862 Devoted To Literature and National Policy Various

If I were a boot-black, to-morrow, I would, I am certain, lean to the delusion that the polishing of pedal integuments was the noblest sphere in life!

She and I, Volume 2 A Love Story. A Life History.

"I think of going in for the boot-black business," he said.

Love at Paddington