shoe
Meanings
- 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.
- A piece of metal designed to be attached to a horse's foot as a means of protection; a horseshoe.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- The part of a brake for a wheeled vehicle which presses upon the wheel to retard its motion.
- 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.
- A trough or spout for conveying grain from the hopper to the eye of the millstone.
- An inclined trough in an ore-crushing mill.
- An iron socket or plate to take the thrust of a strut or rafter.
- An iron socket to protect the point of a wooden pile.
- To put shoes on one's own feet.
- 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.
- A surname.
Pronunciation
Word forms
Etymology
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”).