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shoestring

[shoo-string]
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noun
  1. a shoelace.
  2. a very small amount of money.
  3. shoestrings. shoestring potatoes.
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adjective
  1. consisting of or characterized by a small amount of money: living on a shoestring budget.
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Origin of shoestring

First recorded in 1610–20; shoe + string
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for shoe-string

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • He heard, and, loosening his shoe-string, drew a shoe from his foot and looked at the sole.

    Eric Brighteyes

    H. Rider Haggard

  • She was speechless, because she had just crammed an entire licorice 'shoe-string' into her mouth.

  • To the length of his shoe-string and the color of his doublet.

    Sir Christopher

    Maud Wilder Goodwin

  • Clarke had saved the game for Pittsburg in the sixth inning by a shoe-string.

    Pitching in a Pinch

    Christy Mathewson

  • Say, didn't you never have to tie up your hair with a shoe-string?

    The Portion of Labor

    Mary E. Wilkins Freeman

British Dictionary definitions for shoe-string

shoestring

noun
  1. another word for shoelace
  2. informal
    1. a very small or petty amount of money (esp in the phrase on a shoestring)
    2. (as modifier)a shoestring budget
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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 shoe-string

n.

1610s, from shoe (n.) + string (n.). As figurative for "a small amount" it is recorded from 1882; as a type of necktie, from 1903; as a style of cooked potatoes from 1906.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

Idioms and Phrases with shoe-string

shoestring

see on a shoestring.

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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.