French heel

American  

noun

1. a high, curved heel, characterized by a heel breast curving into a shank, used on women's shoes.

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French heel British  

noun

1. a fairly high and narrow-waisted heel on women's shoes

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Other Word Forms

• French-heeled
  adjective

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Etymology

Origin of French heel

First recorded in 1655–65

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

French heel

One flat shoe and one French heel make a poor pair.

From The Love Affairs of Pixie by Mrs. George de Horne Vaizey

After the devil had made all the trouble for woman he could with the fig leaf, he introduced the French heel.

From An Ambitious Man by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

In the strong sun a film of soft earth showed the impress of something quite like the pivoted French heel.

From Jane Allen, Junior by Edith Bancroft

"Say, have we got any more of them 4567 French heel, chiffon rosette?"

From Just Around the Corner Romance en casserole by Fannie Hurst

The woman's shoe adds the so-called French heel to the evidence of enforced leisure afforded by its polish; because this high heel obviously makes any, even the simplest and most necessary manual work extremely difficult.

From Theory of the Leisure Class by Thorstein Veblen

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