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.
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
But the true patrin is handfuls of leaves flung down; for patrin or patten in old Roman language means the leaf of a tree.
From Romano Lavo-Lil: word book of the Romany; or, English Gypsy language by Borrow, George Henry
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
Then, the Overseer provided the needed article.—Had widow Jones broken her spinning wheel or her patten ring?
From Fragments of Two Centuries Glimpses of Country Life when George III. was King by Kingston, Alfred
Then a vast crowd of worshipers surrounded me, a priest before the altar raised the pyx and the patten in his hands.
From Dreams and Dream Stories by Kingsford, Anna Bonus
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.
