white-shoe
Americanadjective
Etymology
Origin of white-shoe
First recorded in 1975–80; apparently from the white shoes popular as moderately formal wear among suburban men c1980
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.
But the flyovers are leaving some locals side-eying their comrades at Manhattan’s white-shoe firms.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
Meta and Google each had multiple partners from white-shoe firms at the defense table every day for eight weeks in Los Angeles, attorneys who can command thousands of dollars per billable hour.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 28, 2026
These involve some of the big white-shoe conservative law firms, Consovoy McCarthy and others in D.C.
From Salon ● Aug. 16, 2024
It turns out that one of America’s best known white-shoe law firms, WilmerHale, was intricately involved.
From New York Times ● Dec. 8, 2023
“Phooey, I say, on all white-shoe college boys who edit their campus literary magazines. Give me an honest con man any day.”
From "Franny and Zooey" by J. D. Salinger
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.
