Meaning

(countable and uncountable) Leather that is used to make shoes..

Definitions by Sense

1. (countable and uncountable) Leather that is used to make shoes.
2. (uncountable) Leather from which shoes are made that is worn out through walking.
3. (by extension, idiomatic) The sweat of one's brow; effort; investigatory effort.
4. (slang, figurative, somewhat derogatory) Tough meat, especially cheap meat.
5. (idiomatic) Basic, old-fashioned or traditional; specifically (journalism) shoe-leather journalism or shoe-leather reporting: journalism involving walking from place to place observing things and speaking to people, rather than sitting indoors at a desk.

Example Sentences

Notable in feminine footgear of the first two decades was the increasing number of different shoe leathers consisting of box calf, white calf, colored kids, buck and antelope.

Outside of patent leathers and specialties, I know of no other types of shoe leathers which are commanding replacement costs today.

Naturally, this aristocrat of shoe leathers costs more than ordinary leather – and, for the past two years, it has been all but unobtainable in this country.

Shoe Leathers. Leather used in making shoes is of two kinds – bottom, or sole, leather and upper leather.

British authors have long suspected and documented that vegetable-tanned leather was responsible for many of their unexplained shoe leather-positive patients.

In old times, if a Coniston peasant had any business at Ulverstone, he walked to Ulverstone; spent nothing but shoe-leather on the road, drank at the streams, and if he spent a couple of batz when he got to Ulverstone, "it was the end of the world." But now, he would never think of doing such a thing! He first walks three miles in a contrary direction, to a railroad station, and then travels by railroad twenty-four miles to Ulverstone, paying two shillings fare.

Save on shoe leather [letter title] […] Pounding the sidewalks can seriously wear you out.

Many sleuths, both professional and amateur, have devoted years to unravelling the circumstances of the heist, but one man who has worn out more shoe leather than most in pursuit of this mystery is Stephen Kurkjian, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter now retired after 40 years at The Boston Globe.

Word Forms

• shoe-leathers
• shoe leather
• shoeleather

Related Words

When Should You Use Shoe-leather?

Use shoe-leather when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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