over-shoe, over-shoes, advb. phr.
(ˌəʊvəˈʃuːz)
[orig. two words: see over prep. 3.]
Of water, mud, etc.: So deep as to cover the shoes, shoe-deep; hence, to be over-shoes, go over-shoes, run over-shoes, e.g. in water, or fig. in any course or enterprise.
| 1579 Gosson Sch. Abuse (Arb.) 75, I beseech them to looke to their footing, that run overshooes in al these vanities. 1590 Shakes. Com. Err. iii. ii. 106 A man may goe ouer-shooes in the grime of it. 1778 Israel Angell Diary (1897) 31 It cleared off in the night with Snow about over Shoe. 1891 T. Hardy Tess (1900) 55/1 The result of the rain had been to flood the lane over-shoe. [See other examples, a 1555–1677, s.v. over prep. 3.] |