Definition of "shoe-leather" in English

Noun

1. Leather that is used to make shoes.

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

3. The sweat of one's brow; effort; investigatory effort.

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

4. 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. Basic, old-fashioned or traditional; specifically 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.