Word.ws English Dictionary

as ever trod shoe-leather

Syllables: as ever trod shoe-lea·therUK/əz ɛvə ˈtɹɒd ˈʃuːˌlɛðə/US/æz ɛvɚ ˈtɹɑd ˈʃuːˌlɛðɚ/

as ever trod shoe-leather phrase: as ever existed or lived.

Phrase

as ever trod shoe-leather

  1. (archaic, idiomatic) As ever existed or lived.
    • As grate a rascal, as ever trod shoe-leather.1767, Andrew Barton [pseudonym; Thomas Forrest or Francis Hopkinson?], The Disappointment, or, The Force of Credulity: A New American Comic-opera, of Two Acts, New York [i.e., Philadelphia, Penn.]...
    • As handsome a gentleman, to be sure, as ever trod shoe leather! I wonder that old folks can be so very, very blind!1809 February, E[nos] Bronson et al., “On the Marriage Manufactory at Gretna Green”, in Select Reviews, and Spirit of the Foreign Magazines, volume I, Philadelphia, Pa.: From the Lorenzo Press of E....

Examples of as ever trod shoe-leather in a sentence

  • I've ne'er heard his name named since I saw him go out of the yard as stout a man as ever trod shoe-leather.1855 October 6, [Elizabeth Gaskell], “Half a Life-time Ago”, in Charles Dickens, editor, Household Words: A Weekly Journal, volume XII...
  • It was as finely organized a Church as ever trod shoe-leather.c. 1855, Lyman Beecher, “The Revival”, in Charles Beecher, editor, Autobiography, Correspondence, etc., of Lyman Beecher, D.D., volume II...

Forms of as ever trod shoe-leather

alternative formas ever trod shoe leather

Origin of as ever trod shoe-leather

Treading shoe-leather refers to walking, in the sense of “walking on this earth”.

Questions about as ever trod shoe-leather

What does as ever trod shoe-leather mean?
As ever trod shoe-leather means as ever existed or lived.
How do you use as ever trod shoe-leather in a sentence?
I've ne'er heard his name named since I saw him go out of the yard as stout a man as ever trod shoe-leather.
What part of speech is as ever trod shoe-leather?
As ever trod shoe-leather is a phrase.
How do you pronounce as ever trod shoe-leather?
As ever trod shoe-leather is pronounced /əz ɛvə ˈtɹɒd ˈʃuːˌlɛðə/ (UK).

Words near as ever trod shoe-leather in the dictionary

  1. as clever as a cartload of monkeys
  2. as demure as an old whore at a christening
  3. as easy as rolling off a log
  4. as ever
  5. as ever trod shoe leather
  6. as ever trod shoe-leather
  7. as far as
  8. as far as I am concerned
  9. as far as I'm concerned
  10. as far as one can tell
  11. as far as one is concerned

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: as ever trod shoe-leather (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-as ever trod shoe-leather.ogg.

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