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.
a separate sole attached to a shoe or boot for this purpose.
Building Trades. any stand or support, especially one of a number resting on unbroken ground as a substitute for a foundation.
1350–1400; Middle English paten < Middle French patin wooden shoe, perhaps derivative of pate paw
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
My feet are all right any way with my new patten leather shoes on but I shall have to look out for my head.
From Village Life in America 1852-1872 Including the period of the American Civil War as told in the diary of a school-girl by Richards, Caroline Cowles
He let you drag through the mud and snow without so much as a patten to keep you off the ground.
From Clementina by Mason, A. E. W. (Alfred Edward Woodley)
Note extension strapping applied to affected leg, and patten under sound foot.
From Manual of Surgery Volume Second: Extremities—Head—Neck. Sixth Edition. by Miles, Alexander
In reality, patten is derived from the French word patin, which has a varied meaning of the sole of a shoe or a skate.
From Two Centuries of Costume in America, Volume 1 (1620-1820) by Earle, Alice Morse
There is a most ungallant old riddle, "Why is a wife like a patten?"
From Two Centuries of Costume in America, Volume 1 (1620-1820) by Earle, Alice Morse
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
