Definition of "shoe-leather" in Englisch

noun

1. (countable and uncountable) Leather that is used to make shoes.

   • Notable in feminine footgear of the first two decades was the increasing number of different shoe leathers consisting of box calf, white calf, colored kids, buck and antelope.

2. (uncountable) Leather from which shoes are made that is worn out through walking.

3. (by extension, idiomatic) The sweat of one's brow; effort; investigatory effort.

   • They expended a lot of shoe-leather in hunting down every lead.

4. (slang, figurative, somewhat derogatory) Tough meat, especially cheap meat.

   • The school certainly wasn't breaking the bank by feeding us — when it wasn't gruel it was shoe-leather.

adjective

1. (idiomatic) Basic, old-fashioned or traditional; specifically (journalism) shoe-leather journalism or shoe-leather reporting: journalism involving walking from place to place observing things and speaking to people, rather than sitting indoors at a desk.