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• half sole
  half sole

  noun

  that part of the sole of a boot or shoe that extends from the shank to the end of the toe.
• half-sole
  half-sole

  verb (used with object)

  to repair or renew (a shoe) by putting on a new half sole.

half sole

¹ American  

noun

1. that part of the sole of a boot or shoe that extends from the shank to the end of the toe.

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half-sole ² American  

[haf-sohl, hahf-] / ˈhæfˌsoʊl, ˈhɑf- /

verb (used with object)

half-soled, half-soling

1. to repair or renew (a shoe) by putting on a new half sole.

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half-sole British  

noun

1. a sole from the shank of a shoe to the toe

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verb

1. (tr) to replace the half-sole of (a shoe)

Etymology

Origin of half sole¹

First recorded in 1860–65

Origin of half-sole²

First recorded in 1785–95

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

half-sole half-soled half-soling

A half-sole footprint with circles—two holes in the center like a pair of eyes.

From "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote

She ought to have saved the twenty cents toward a new half-sole.

From "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers

On the third evening they sat outside, Danny watching Jed put a new half-sole on a cast-off riding boot.

From I Conquered by Titus, Harold

You do not expect a distinguished lawyer to clean his own clothes, a doctor to groom his horse, a teacher to take care of the schoolhouse furnace, a preacher to half-sole his shoes.

From The History of Woman Suffrage, Volume IV by Harper, Ida Husted

"You can trim your toenails with it and half-sole your boots," he said.

From The Duke Of Chimney Butte by Ivory, P. V. E. (Percy Van Eman)

"I had my shoes half-soled oftener than any other student," he jokes today.

From Time Magazine Archive

"We used to work several months to make enough for a pair of shoes," he says, "and had them half-soled so many times your foot was an inch off the ground."

From Time Magazine Archive

I think about the shoes of my childhood, the brown Oxfords scuffed at the toes, half-soled, new-heeled, the falling-apart grubby white running shoes, the brown sandals with two buckles that you wore with socks.

From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood

He was glad his dress-coat could stand inspection, and hoped nobody would notice that his shoes had been half-soled….

From Bertram Cope's Year by Fuller, Henry Blake

I take care to buy clothes and equipment here in the town, and, having got a good new pair of shoes, I take my old ones to the cobbler to be half-soled.

From Wanderers by Worster, W. J. Alexander (William John Alexander)

Sample: paving only the center lanes of streets to make his repair funds stretch twice as far, a practice Louisville refers to as "half-soling" the streets.

From Time Magazine Archive

All Equity might go in broken shoes, for any patching or half-soling the people got from him.

From A Modern Instance by Howells, William Dean

If they was all on piece-work they couldn't earn enough to pay for half-soling the shoes which they wears out running about getting in one another's way.

From J. Poindexter, Colored by Cobb, Irvin S. (Irvin Shrewsbury)

He found Joe at his bench, half-soling a pair of shoes.

From The Unknown Wrestler by Cody, H. A. (Hiram Alfred)

Not one of us ever thought of the simple device of half-soling himself with a stove-lid.

From Mark Twain's Letters — Volume 4 (1886-1900) by Paine, Albert Bigelow