shoepolish
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Senses: examples: text: The diseases of shoemakers receive attention as well as the toxicology of shoepolish.
ref: 1911 October, W. R. D., “Index-Catalogue of the Library of the Surgeon General’s Office, United States Army. Authors and Subjects. Second Series, Vol. XV. S—Skin Grafting. (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1910.)”, in American Journal of Insanity, volume LXVIII, number 2, page 327:
text: Now that peace is here once more, and the Corps is returning to its prewar proportions, our girls are being replaced by men and discharged to civilian life, where they will no longer hear the song of the DI’s cadence, the clash of GI trays, the cry of LIGHTS OUT and HIT THE DECK, KNOCK IT OFF and FALL IN, where there will no longer be the smell of shoepolish and the skivvie-clad confusion of GI parties.
ref: 1946, Barbara E. Bristol, “The Women of P. I.”, in P. I., Third Anniversary MCWR, 1943-1946, Walker, Evans & Cogswell Co.:
text: Friday Clark had gone to the PX for a much needed bottle of shoepolish with fifty cents borrowed from Niccolo Leva. […] Besides that, he had not gotten the shoepolish he had gone for. He had spent 15¢ for an icecream sundae—chocolate which he dearly loved—and another 15¢ for a new comic book to read while he ate the sundae. That was allright, that still left 20¢ for the shoepolish, and he wasnt going to eat in the messhall anyway, and reading the comic book kept him from feeling embarrassed like he always did in the PX restaurant, and he still had the 20¢ for shoepolish.
ref: 1951, James Jones, From Here to Eternity, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, page 526:
text: Whether they are or not, the publishers of newspapers, like the makers of shoepolish, may fairly claim to be governed by uniform standards.
ref: 1970, Migrant and Seasonal Farmworker Powerlessness: Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Migratory Labor of the Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, United States Senate, Ninety-First Congress, First Session on Efforts to Organize, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, page 696:
text: The motor rumbled alive; there was a smell of shoepolish and gasoline as the plane turned, gathered its bulk, and headed for the broad road to heaven.
ref: 1973, Nancy Willard, Childhood of the Magician, New York, N.Y.: Liveright, →ISBN, page 194:
text: The same smell of unwashed bodies, of shoepolish and dirty floors; the same sound of typewriters and men yawning or braying over some joke.
ref: 1974, Leonard St. Clair, The Emerald Trap, New York, N.Y.: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, →ISBN, page 193:
text: The smell of shoepolish is what’s filling the roominghouse air.
ref: 1977, Stuart Peterfreund, Harder than Rain, Ithaca, N.Y.: Ithaca House, →ISBN, page 13:
text: two throne chairs / unopened cans of shoepolish / the proprietor / has money pressed / into his palm / a number / into his ear
ref: 1978, Charles Levendosky, “shoeshine parlor”, in Aspects of the Vertical, Norman, Okla.: Point Riders Press, →LCCN:
text: But, to tell the truth, although some of these wines are extremely strong and one or two of them faintly palatable—Ng Kah Pee, for instance, which tastes gently of shoepolish—my wine-tasting adventures have not been notably successful.
ref: 1980 [1955], Patrick Anderson, Snake Wine: A Singapore Episode, Singapore; Oxford, Oxon; New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, published 1984, →ISBN, page 162:
text: In Maurice’s rhapsody, Snowball is defined as a negative image of Green Eyes, a dark double of this cell’s mastermind: “You might even call him a Green Eyes with a coat of shoepolish, Green Eyes with a smoke-screen, Green Eyes covered with mud, Green Eyes in the dark” (pp. 106–107).
ref: 1983, Carol Rosen, Plays of Impasse: Contemporary Drama Set in Confining Institutions, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, →ISBN, page 197:
text: She opened the tin of shoepolish and began to paint it around Inès’ pale blue eyes with a little brush.
ref: 1990, Joan Collins, Love & Desire & Hate, New York, N.Y.: Linden Press/Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 75:
text: Moreover, the shoeshiner might decide to add a receipt or a sample of shoepolish as tangible evidence of good care.
ref: 1993, G. Lynn Shostack, “Designing Services That Deliver”, in John J[ulius] Sviokla, Benson P. Shapiro, editors, Keeping Customers, Boston, Mass.: Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation, →ISBN, page 85:
text: BADENHORST goes to his bed and gets a tin of shoepolish and a rag.
ref: 1993, Anthony Akerman, “Somewhere on the Border”, in Stephen Gray, editor, South Africa Plays, London: Nick Hern Books; Houghton, South Africa: Heinemann-Centaur, →ISBN, page 18:
text: I sat at the upstairs window and watched him come down the hill on Friday evenings gathering knockbacks door to door with a drip on the tip of his nose and a hunch beneath his mackintosh, lugging a clatty brown suitcase full of shoepolish, laces, toothbrushes, soap and combs which we bought every now and then […]
ref: 1994, Graham Fulton, Knights of the Lower Floors, Edinburgh: Polygon, →ISBN, page 15:
text: The place smelled of shoepolish, not the usual musty hymn-books she associated with chapels.
ref: 1996 [1994], Peter Robinson, Final Account: An Inspector Banks Mystery, New York, N.Y.: Berkley Prime Crime, →ISBN, page 206:
text: Shinola: a brand of shoepolish, not to be confused with excrement
ref: 1996, “glossary of slang terms”, in Noir: The Film Noir Role-Playing Game, Archon Gaming, Inc., →ISBN, page c3:
text: The disparity in the price of shoepolish and detergent increases (slightly) with a relative modest surge of trade.
ref: 1998, Herbert Glejser, “The Effect of Prices on Trade during the First Twelve Years of the European Community”, in P. K. M. Tharakan, D. Van Den Bulcke, editors, International Trade, Foreign Direct Investment and the Economic Environment: Essays in Honour of Professor Sylvain Plasschaert, New York, N.Y.: St. Martin’s Press, →ISBN, page 38:
text: One night, after returning to the shed for post-game libations, the small goalie drew a disc of shoepolish and a chamois from his pocket, fell to his knees, and began polishing our boots at the command of another player who was caning him across the back.
ref: 2005, Dave Bidini, The Best Game You Can Name, Toronto, Ont.: McClelland & Stewart, →ISBN, page 199:
text: Here the streets seem to be filled with the smell of shoepolish coming from the shoepolish stands; they are working hard these days, the men who polish shoes, because everywhere you look there are men in uniforms whose boots are so well shined they could serve as mirrors and I can see the hems of my skirts reflected in them.
ref: 2007, Yannick Murphy, Signed, Mata Hari, Leicester: Ulverscroft, published 2008, →ISBN, page 259:
text: ‘Where is Antoinette, do you know, Matron?’ asked Angela, wishing she could get the combined tastes of shoepolish and medicine out of her mouth.
ref: 2014 [1945], Enid Blyton, Fifth Formers of St. Clare’s, London: Egmont UK Limited, →ISBN, page 67:
glosses: Alternative form of shoe polish.