shoe.
A protective covering for the foot, with a bottom part composed of thick leather or plastic sole and often a thicker heel, and a softer upper part made of leather or synthetic material. Shoes generally do not extend above the ankle, as opposed to boots, which do.
Meaning & usage
A protective covering for the foot, with a bottom part composed of thick leather or plastic sole and often a thicker heel, and a softer upper part made of leather or synthetic material. Shoes generally do not extend above the ankle, as opposed to boots, which do.
Get your shoes on now, or you'll be late for school.
A piece of metal designed to be attached to a horse's foot as a means of protection; a horseshoe.
Throw the shoe from behind the line, and try to get it to land circling (a ringer) or touching the far stake.
A device for holding multiple decks of playing cards, allowing more games to be played by reducing the time between shuffles.
Something resembling a shoe in form, position, or function, such as a brake shoe.
Remember to turn the rotors when replacing the brake shoes, or they will wear out unevenly.
Something resembling a shoe in form, position, or function, such as a brake shoe. 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.
Something resembling a shoe in form, position, or function, such as a brake shoe. 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.
Something resembling a shoe in form, position, or function, such as a brake shoe. The part of a brake for a wheeled vehicle which presses upon the wheel to retard its motion.
Something resembling a shoe in form, position, or function, such as a brake shoe. 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.
Something resembling a shoe in form, position, or function, such as a brake shoe. A trough or spout for conveying grain from the hopper to the eye of the millstone.
Something resembling a shoe in form, position, or function, such as a brake shoe. An inclined trough in an ore-crushing mill.
Something resembling a shoe in form, position, or function, such as a brake shoe. An iron socket or plate to take the thrust of a strut or rafter.
Something resembling a shoe in form, position, or function, such as a brake shoe. An iron socket to protect the point of a wooden pile.
Something resembling a shoe in form, position, or function, such as a brake shoe. A plate, or notched piece, interposed between a moving part and the stationary part on which it bears, to take the wear and afford means of adjustment; called also slipper and gib.
Something resembling a shoe in form, position, or function, such as a brake shoe. Part of a current collector on electric trains which provides contact either with a live rail or an overhead wire (fitted to a pantograph in the latter case).
Something resembling a shoe in form, position, or function, such as a brake shoe. An ingot of gold or silver shaped somewhat like a traditional Chinese shoe, formerly used in trade in the Far East.
The outer cover or tread of a pneumatic tire, especially for an automobile.
A pneumatic tire, especially for an automobile.
A fake passport.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *skōhaz Proto-West Germanic *skōh Old English sċōh Middle English scho English shoe From Middle English scho, sho, from Old English sċōh (“shoe”), from Proto-West Germanic *skōh, from Proto-Germanic *skōhaz (“shoe”), of unclear etymology; possibly a derivation from *skehaną (“to move quickly”), from Proto-Indo-European *skek- (“to move quickly, jump”). Eclipsed non-native Middle English sabatine, sabatoun (“shoe”) from Medieval Latin sabatēnum, sabatum (“shoe, slipper”) (compare Old Occitan sabatō, Spanish zapato (“shoe”), French sabot (“wooden shoe, clog”), Italian ciabatta). The archaic plural shoon is from Middle English shon, from Old English scōn, scōum (“shoes”, dative plural) and scōna (“shoes'”, genitive plural); it is cognate with Scots shuin (“shoes”). See also Scots shae, West Frisian skoech, Low German Schoh, Dutch schoen, German Schuh, Bavarian Schuach, Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish sko, Tocharian B skāk (“balcony”).
To put shoes on one's own feet.
Men and women clothed and shod for the ascent.
To put shoes on someone or something else's feet, especially to put horseshoes on a horse.
To cover an object with a protective layer of material.
The billiard cue stick was shod in silver.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *skōhaz Proto-West Germanic *skōh Old English sċōh Middle English scho English shoe From Middle English scho, sho, from Old English sċōh (“shoe”), from Proto-West Germanic *skōh, from Proto-Germanic *skōhaz (“shoe”), of unclear etymology; possibly a derivation from *skehaną (“to move quickly”), from Proto-Indo-European *skek- (“to move quickly, jump”). Eclipsed non-native Middle English sabatine, sabatoun (“shoe”) from Medieval Latin sabatēnum, sabatum (“shoe, slipper”) (compare Old Occitan sabatō, Spanish zapato (“shoe”), French sabot (“wooden shoe, clog”), Italian ciabatta). The archaic plural shoon is from Middle English shon, from Old English scōn, scōum (“shoes”, dative plural) and scōna (“shoes'”, genitive plural); it is cognate with Scots shuin (“shoes”). See also Scots shae, West Frisian skoech, Low German Schoh, Dutch schoen, German Schuh, Bavarian Schuach, Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish sko, Tocharian B skāk (“balcony”).
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.