shoe
Americannoun
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shoes,
plural
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shoon
plural (especially British Dialect)
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an external covering for the human foot, usually of leather and consisting of a more or less stiff or heavy sole and a lighter upper part ending a short distance above, at, or below the ankle.
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an object or part resembling a shoe in form, position, or use.
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a horseshoe or a similar plate for the hoof of some other animal.
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a ferrule or the like, as of iron, for protecting the end of a staff, pole, etc.
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the outer casing of a pneumatic automobile tire.
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a drag or skid for a wheel of a vehicle.
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a part having a larger area than the end of an object on which it fits, serving to disperse or apply its weight or thrust.
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the sliding contact by which an electric car or locomotive takes its current from the third rail.
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Civil Engineering.
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a member supporting one end of a truss or girder in a bridge.
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a hard and sharp foot of a pile or caisson for piercing underlying soil.
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a small molding, as a quarter round, closing the angle between a baseboard and a floor.
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the outwardly curved portion at the base of a downspout.
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a piece of iron or stone, sunk into the ground, against which the leaves of a gateway are shut.
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a device on a camera that permits an accessory, as a flashgun, to be attached.
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a band of iron on the bottom of the runner of a sleigh.
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Cards. dealing box.
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Furniture.
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a cuplike metal piece for protecting the bottom of a leg.
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a fillet beneath an ornamental foot, as a pad or scroll foot.
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Printing. a box into which unusable type is thrown.
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a chute conveying grain to be ground into flour.
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Carpentry. soleplate.
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Nautical. a thickness of planking covering the bottom of the keel of a wooden vessel to protect it against rubbing.
verb (used with object)
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shoes,
present (3rd person singular)
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shod,
past participle, past
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shoed,
past participle, past
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shodden,
past participle (Archaic)
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shoeing
present participle
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to provide or fit with a shoe or shoes.
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to protect or arm at the point, edge, or face with a ferrule, metal plate, or the like.
idioms
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fill someone's shoes, to take the place and assume the obligations of another person.
She felt that no stepmother could ever hope to fill her late mother's shoes.
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the shoe is on the other foot, the circumstances are reversed; a change of places has occurred.
Now that we are rich and they are poor the shoe is on the other foot.
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where the shoe pinches, the true cause of the trouble or worry.
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drop the other shoe, to complete an action or enterprise already begun.
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in someone's shoes, in a position or situation similar to that of another.
I wouldn't like to be in his shoes.
noun
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one of a matching pair of coverings shaped to fit the foot, esp one ending below the ankle, having an upper of leather, plastic, etc, on a sole and heel of heavier leather, rubber, or synthetic material
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( as modifier )
shoe cleaner
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anything resembling a shoe in shape, function, position, etc, such as a horseshoe
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a band of metal or wood on the bottom of the runner of a sledge
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(in baccarat, etc) a boxlike device for holding several packs of cards and allowing the cards to be dispensed singly
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a base for the supports of a superstructure of a bridge, roof, etc
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a metal collector attached to an electric train that slides along the third rail and picks up power for the motor
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engineering a lining to protect from and withstand wear See brake shoe pile shoe
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informal to be in another person's situation
verb
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to furnish with shoes
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to fit (a horse) with horseshoes
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to furnish with a hard cover, such as a metal plate, for protection against friction or bruising
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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shoesimple
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shoessimple
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have shodperfect
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have shoddenperfect
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have shoedperfect
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has shodperfect
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has shoddenperfect
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has shoedperfect
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am shoeingprogressive
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are shoeingprogressive
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is shoeingprogressive
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have been shoeingperfect progressive
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has been shoeingperfect progressive
Past
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shodsimple
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shoedsimple
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had shodperfect
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had shoddenperfect
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had shoedperfect
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was shoeingprogressive
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were shoeingprogressive
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had been shoeingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of shoe
First recorded before 900; (noun) Middle English scho(o), Old English sceō(h), cognate with German Schuh, Old Norse skōr, Gothic skōhs; (verb) Middle English schon, Old English scōg(e)an, cognate with Middle Low German schoi(g)en, Old Norse skūa
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Similar mash-ups and shoe collaborations have come and gone.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 15, 2026
Deckers Outdoor, in May, said its Ugg Zora line — which has the fluffy interior an Ugg boot in roughly the shape of a ballet shoe — was proving appealing to customers.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 15, 2026
So why, despite leaps forward in shoe technology and our understanding of nutrition and recovery, has that record not fallen?
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
The timeline for 3-D printing a shoe is 1-3 days, which he said is a 75% reduction compared with ordering a prototype from an overseas factory.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
Bess had found the barrette at the dance studio, wedged into a crack in the shelf under the pink and silver striped shoe box.
From "The Cinderella Ballet Mystery: Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew, #4" by Carolyn Keene
“There’s a lot of refreshing of how the shoes can be worn.”
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 15, 2026
I dreamed of being in her shoes — and even when I joined the show, I knew they were impossibly big shoes to fill.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 15, 2026
The shoes have endured because they’re comfortable and go well with formal and casual attire.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 15, 2026
Little is known, other than that the ceremony was officiated by comedian/actor Adam Sandler, the couple were dressed by Jonathan Anderson for Christian Dior, and Swift wore Louboutin shoes.
From Barron's ● Aug. 12, 2026
He wondered what his sister would have done if she was in his shoes.
From "The Way to Rio Luna" by Zoraida Cordova
A typical stanza: Tell me by what art thou bindest On thy feet those ancient shoon: Tell me, Grinder, if thou grindest Always, always out of tune.
From Time Magazine Archive
Then she's ta'en him to her chamber, And down in her arms lay he: The boy coost aff his hose and shoon, And ran to fair Dundee.
From English and Scottish Ballads, Volume II (of 8) by Various
It is not denied that this ballad has suffered, like others, by corruption and interpolations, and it is not, therefore, maintained that hats and cork-heeld shoon are of the 13th century.
From English and Scottish Ballads (volume 3 of 8) by Various
"Why are ye sae anxious to stand in my shoon?" he would ask, when the hind legs became too obstreperous.
From The King of Schnorrers Grotesques and Fantasies by Israel Zangwill
"These shoon cannot be made for siller," said the old man solemnly.
From The Scottish Fairy Book by Elizabeth Wilson Grierson
The Wall Street Journal reported this week that Trump is so smitten with his Florsheim dress shoes that he shod his whole Cabinet in the same footwear.
From Slate ● Mar. 14, 2026
Dsquared2 also presented for autumn-winter 2026-27 an army of holidaymakers shod in provocative footwear.
From Barron's ● Jan. 16, 2026
But when he faces down a more traditionally shod and tailored adversary, Boy Kavalier unleashes his dogs as negotiating weapons.
From Salon ● Aug. 31, 2025
“Try finding a suitable space in a Range Rover or Jeep Wagoneer for an 8-inch by 22-inch rim shod with a cross-country tire,” he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2023
Following closely behind them perhaps there would have strode a professional pilgrim, supporting himself on a stout knobbed staff shod like an alpenstock and weighed down with blessed medals, relics, shells, vernicles and so forth.
From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White
Only 18 people shoed up for a debate we hosted, and we had received only seven letters.
From Washington Times ● Sep. 23, 2020
“You got up in the morning, you tended to your horses, you cleaned the hooves out, shoed them and fed them,” Elliott said.
From Washington Times ● Jul. 10, 2016
She hates heels, feels like a shoed horse in them.
From Salon ● Nov. 23, 2012
"One could meditate on Bible verses as one shoed a horse, or patched a pair of trousers, or planed a door."
From Time Magazine Archive
Smiths straightened swords, knocked dents from breastplates, and shoed destriers and pack mules alike.
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
But oh! the slips of those who are shodden with vanity!
From Autobiography and Letters of Orville Dewey, D.D. Edited by his Daughter by Mary Elizabeth Dewey
Therefore, without more hesitation, I plunged into the middle way, holding a long ash-staff before me, shodden at the end with iron.
From Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern — Volume 5 by Hamilton Wright Mabie
"Black fellow," I said to myself; but no, those were shodden feet that swept along so wearily.
From Recollections of Geoffrey Hamlyn by Henry Kingsley
On either side, in purple distance, sprang sky-piercing obelisks and vapor-mantled glaciers, spangled with bright snow, and shodden with eternal forest.
From Erema — My Father's Sin by R. D. (Richard Doddridge) Blackmore
Discuss shoeing and hoof care options with a farrier.
From BBC ● Jul. 3, 2026
In a memoir, Mr. Hébras recalled the sounds of his town as it had been in his youth — “the church bells and the anvil of the blacksmith shoeing cows and hobnailing our clogs.”
From Washington Post ● Feb. 28, 2023
He began shoeing horses for television and film westerns, and gradually took nonspeaking roles on horseback.
From New York Times ● Aug. 1, 2020
Cherry’s curiosity about people’s lives produced finely observed pictures of immigrants, street vendors, bocce players, farriers shoeing Central Park carriage horses, construction workers, fruit auctioneers and children watching in amazement as an airplane flew overhead.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 15, 2019
Purses were often smaller than the cost of shoeing a horse—about $1.40.
From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand
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.
