Chapter Shoe-loosed to Shot in the Locker of S by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Shoe-loosed to Shot in the Locker

Shoe-loosed A man without shoes; an unnatural kinsman, a selfish prodigal (Hebrew). If a man refused to marry his brother's widow, the woman pulled off his shoe in the presence of the elders, spat in his face, and called him “shoe-loosed.” (Deut. xxv. 9.)

Shoe Pinches No one knows where the shoe pinches like the wearer. This was said by a Roman sage who was blamed for divorcing his wife, with whom he seemed to live happily.

“For, God it wot, he sat ful still and song,
When that his scho ful bitterly him wrong.”
Chaucer: Canterbury Tales, 6,074.

Shoe a Goose (To). To engage in a silly and fruitless task.

Shoe the Anchor (To). To cover the flukes of an anchor with a broad triangular piece of plank, in order that the anchor may have a stronger hold in soft ground. The French have the same phrase: ensoler l'ancre.

Shoe the Cobbler (To). To give a quick peculiar movement with the front foot in sliding.

Shoe the Horse (To). (French, Ferrer la mule.) Means to cheat one's employer out of a small sum of money. The expression is derived from the ancient practice of grooms, who charged their masters for “shoeing,” but pocketed the money themselves.

Shoe the Wild Colt (To). To exact a fine called “footing” from a newcomer, who is called the “colt.” Colt is a common synonym for a greenhorn, or a youth not broken in. Thus Shakespeare says- “Ay, that's a colt indeed, for he doth nothing but talk of his horse.” (Merchant of Venice, i.2.)

Shoes Scarpa's shoes for curing club feet, etc. Devised by Antonio Scarpa, an Italian anatomist.

Shoemakers The patron saints of shoemakers are St. Crispin and his brother Crispian, who supported themselves by making shoes while they preached to the people of Gaul and Britain. In compliment to these saints the trade of shoemaking is called “the gentle craft.”

Shoot the Moon (To). To remove house furniture by night to avoid distraint.

Shoot the Sun (To). To take a nautical observation.

“Unless a man understood how to handle his vessel, it would be very little use his being able to `shoot the sun,' as sailors call it.”- Notes and Queries, November 19th, 1892, p. 403.

Shooting-iron (A). A gun.

“Catch old Stripes [a tiger] coming near my bullock, if he thought a `shooting-iron' anywhere about.”- Cornhill, July, 1883 (My Tiger Watch).

Shooting Stars, called in ancient legends the “fiery tears of St. Lawrence,” because one of the periodic swarms of these meteors is between the 9th and 14th of August, about the time of St. Lawrence's festival, which is one the 10th.
   Shooting stars are said by the Arabs to be firebrands hurled by the angels against the inquisitive Jinns or Genii, who are for ever clambering up on the constellations to peep into heaven.

Shop To talk shop. To talk about one's affairs or business, to illustrate by one's business, as when Ollipod the apothecary talks of a uniform with rhubarb-coloured facings.

Shop-lifting is secretly purloining goods from a shop. Dekker speaks of the lifting-law- i.e. the law against theft. (Gothic, hlifan, to steal; hliftus, a thief; Latin, levo, to disburden.)

Shore (Jane). Sir Thomas More says, “She was well-born, honestly brought up, and married somewhat too soon to a wealthy yeoman.” The tragedy of Jane Shore is by Nicholas Rowe.