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patten

[pat-n]
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noun
  1. any of various kinds of footwear, as a wooden shoe, a shoe with a wooden sole, a chopine, etc., to protect the feet from mud or wetness.
  2. a separate sole attached to a shoe or boot for this purpose.
  3. Building Trades. any stand or support, especially one of a number resting on unbroken ground as a substitute for a foundation.
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Origin of patten

1350–1400; Middle English paten < Middle French patin wooden shoe, perhaps derivative of pate paw
Related formspat·tened, adjective

Patten

[pat-n]
noun
  1. GilbertBurt L. Standish, 1866–1945, U.S. writer of adventure stories.
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Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for patten

Historical Examples

  • There were exceptions to the rule, however, and Mr. Patten was one of these.

    Personal Recollections of a Cavalryman

    J. H. (James Harvey) Kidd

  • Patten stuck to it till there was no more clothing to issue.

  • He and his son-in-law Patten, and young Moss accompanied me to the steamer.

  • If Patten, a mere boy, had been lounging there, Neale would not have noticed it.

  • "No good without the bag," answered Patten, a calm youth of seventeen.

British Dictionary definitions for patten

patten

noun
  1. a wooden clog or sandal on a raised wooden platform or metal ring
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Word Origin

C14: from Old French patin, probably from patte paw
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 patten

n.

late 14c., from Old French patin "clog, type of shoe" (13c.), probably from pate "paw, foot," from Gallo-Romance *pauta, ultimately perhaps imitative of the sound made by a paw. The immediate source has been sought in Celtic [Barnhart] and Germanic [OED], but evidence is wanting. Likely cognates include Provençal pauta, Catalan pote, Middle Dutch and Dutch poot, German Pfote "paw."

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper