heeltap

[heel-tap]

noun

a layer of leather, metal, or the like in a shoe heel; a lift.
a small portion of liquor remaining in a glass after drinking or in a bottle after decanting.
dregs, sediment, or residue.

Origin of heeltap

First recorded in 1680–90; heel¹ + tap¹, tap²

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for heel-tap

Historical Examples of heel-tap

I think we are somewhere in the Atlantic; but your finding that heel-tap does puzzle me.
The Land of the Changing Sun
William N. Harben
My summons came when we had shared the heel-tap of the bottle.
The Master of Appleby
Francis Lynde
“A great loss,” he would say, with a sad shake of his head, as he turned off the heel-tap.
Dealings with the Dead, Volume I (of 2)
A Sexton of the Old School
Little Fay nodded, for her heart was full again, and the heel-tap of a sob would have been behind her words.
Perlycross
R. D. Blackmore
Zack was teeming with mirth—abetted, no doubt, by a heel-tap or two from the Colonel's retiring goblet.
Sunlight Patch
Credo Fitch Harris

British Dictionary definitions for heel-tap

heeltap

noun

Also called: lift a layer of leather, etc, in the heel of a shoe
a small amount of alcoholic drink left at the bottom of a glass after drinking

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for heel-tap

also heeltap, 1680s, "one of the bits of leather that are stacked up to make a shoe heel" (see heel (n.1)); meaning "bit of liquor left in a glass or bottle" first recorded 1780s; the exact connection is uncertain unless it be "the last or final part."