Jump to:

• goody two shoes
  goody two shoes

  noun

  a goody-goody.
• goody two-shoes
  goody two-shoes

  A prudish, self-righteous individual, a goody-goody. For example, Phyllis was a real goody two-shoes, tattling on her friends to the teacher. This expression alludes to the main character of a nursery tale, The History of Goody Two-Shoes (1765), who was so pleased when receiving a second shoe that she kept saying “Two shoes.” The goody in the story is short for goodwife but means “goody-goody” in the idiom.

goody two shoes

American  

noun

(sometimes initial capital letters)

plural

goody two shoes

1. a goody-goody.

---

goody two-shoes Idioms  

1. A prudish, self-righteous individual, a goody-goody. For example, Phyllis was a real goody two-shoes, tattling on her friends to the teacher. This expression alludes to the main character of a nursery tale, The History of Goody Two-Shoes (1765), who was so pleased when receiving a second shoe that she kept saying “Two shoes.” The goody in the story is short for goodwife but means “goody-goody” in the idiom.

---

Etymology

Origin of goody two shoes

After the title character of The History of Little Goody Two-Shoes (1765), a nursery tale perhaps written by Oliver Goldsmith