heel and toen.adv.adj.
/ˌhiːl ən(d) ˈtəʊ/, /ˌhiːl n̩(d) ˈtəʊ/, U.S. /ˌhil ən ˈtoʊ/ A. n.
1. Any dance in which the heel and toes alternately touch the ground. Also more generally (colloquial): the action or activity of dancing.
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society > leisure > dancing > style or manner of dancing > [noun]
ambling1597
heel and toe1805
cheek to cheek1920
touch dancing1966
headbanging1978
dad dancing1996
krump2004
krumping2004
society > leisure > dancing > movements or steps > [noun] > step > stamping or tapping
heel and toe1805
toe and heel1840
stomp1927
zapateado1959
1805 Lady's Monthly Museum Feb. 106 You are in want of a qualified gentleman to teach the resplendent females under your care the discipline of heel and toe.
1819 W. Irving Sketch Bk. v. 388 Master Simon..was endeavouring to gain credit by the heel and toe, rigadoon, and other graces of the ancient school.
1902 M. A. Taggart Miss Lochinvar xiii. 182 Sydney was trying the heel-and-toe with Gladys, and Viva was polkaing with her largest doll.
1952 Jrnl. Eng. Folk Dance & Song Soc. 7 1 Following their performance they ran their own village barn dance with..‘Heel and Toe’ and other popular local folk dances.
2011 South-West News (Austral.) (Nexis) 7 Sept. 39 Greater Springfield seniors celebrated Seniors' Week with a bit of heel and toe at a bush dance.
2. The action or an act of walking, esp. at a brisk pace (colloquial). Also: a type of walk in which the transfer of weight from heel to toe during each step is particularly marked. Now rare.
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1827 T. Hamilton Youth & Manhood Cyril Thornton II. xii. 311 With that sort of walk, generally known by the name of heel and toe, he led his fair partner to her station.
1892 J. Murdoch From Austral. & Japan iii. 147 He spent the best part of the day in a healthy heel-and-toe to Ojigoku.
1948 Times 16 Mar. 5/4 ‘Five minutes' walk’ may mean anything up to a mile of fair heel and toe.
1977 C. McFadden Serial (1978) xxii. 50/1 He did a fast heel-and-toe out to the Volvo.
B. adv.
With reference to walking: such that the transfer of weight from heel to toe during each step is particularly marked, but the fact that one foot is always in contact with the ground distinguishes it from running.Originally with reference to competitive walking.
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1813 Morning Post 3 Sept. Mr. Harrow, a celebrated walker, undertook to go on foot, what is termed heel and toe, meaning fair walking, eleven miles in two hours.
1813 W. Thom Pedestrianism iii. 86 He matched himself for one hundred guineas, to go five miles within half an hour, and to walk, heel and toe, the first five minutes.
1838 W. Scrope Art Deer-stalking ix. 278 This hill is too steep to walk heel and toe.
1868 Royal Cornwall Gaz. 17 Sept. 8/3 The matches gave great satisfaction, excepting the two miles walking match, in which the man who came in first failed to walk heel and toe several times.
1903 A. G. Bradley Highways & Byways S. Wales vii. 213 The people who went heel and toe over the Macadam in old days are precisely the ones who now on a cycle get quite reasonable exercise.
2015 S. Sisgold Whole Body Intelligence ix. 210 Do you walk heel and toe, or do you tend to slide your feet?
C. adj.
1. Designating a type of walk in which the transfer of weight from heel to toe during each step is particularly marked, but the fact that one foot is always in contact with the ground distinguishes it from running.Originally with reference to competitive walking, esp. in fair heel and toe.
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the world > movement > progressive motion > walking > [adjective] > having specific manner of walking > with proper step
heel and toe1823
toe and heel1840
1823 Morning Post 5 Feb. The veteran pedestrian..is matched to walk (what is termed fair heel and toe walking)..from Holborn Bars, London, to Bugdon.
1861 T. Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. I. xiv. 273 They returned to college, having done a little over fifteen miles, fair heel and toe walking.
1899 Friends' Intelligencer & Jrnl. 26 Aug. 664/1 Other travelers were afoot now, an occasional pedestrian, some walking leisurely at my rate, some..striding on with firm heel-and-toe pace.
1917 Seventh Regiment Gaz. Dec. 131/1 ‘Heel and toe’ walking is the only proper method of walk locomotion. The foot first strikes the ground on the heel, and leaves the ground from the toe while the other foot is touching with the heel.
1932 Salt Lake Tribune 16 Sept. 7/3 These trips are made at heel and toe walk rather than at a jog.
2012 D. O'Donnell Locked Ward (2013) 219 Edward would spend half an hour a day walking speedily round the courtyard..with that slightly hyper-looking heel-and-toe walk of Olympic race walkers.
2. Of a dance or dance step: involving the heel and toes alternately touching the ground.
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society > leisure > dancing > movements or steps > [adjective] > steps
heel and toe1834
1834 Standard 17 May Some very neat, as the heel and toe step, and all, more or less graceful.
1883 W. Black Shandon Bells I. iii. 69 A curious clamping and shuffling, as if some one were doing a heel-and-toe step on a wooden floor.
1941 J. O. Sanders in J. F. Dobie et al. Texian Stomping Grounds 88 ‘Little Brown Jug’ (inseparably associated with the heel and toe polka in Texas).
2015 Western Times (Queensland) (Nexis) 2 Apr. 9 The most dancing I've done is the heel and toe dance back in primary school.
3. In a motor vehicle: designating a driving technique in which two pedals (usually the brake and accelerator) are worked simultaneously with the heel and toe of one foot in order to maintain speed when cornering, changing to a lower gear, etc. Cf. to heel and toe at heel v.3 Phrases b.
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society > travel > transport > transport or conveyance in a vehicle > driving or operating a vehicle > [adjective] > operating two pedals simultaneously
heel and toe1937
1937 O. Stewart Learn to Drive viii. 63 A method of gear changing..is that which employs heel-and-toe operation of clutch and accelerator pedals at the same time.
1966 T. Wisdom High-performance Driving viii. 73 Use of the ‘heel-and-toe’ technique..reduces the time and distance taken to complete the slowing-down and gear-change operations.
1973 ‘J. Ashford’ Double Run xiv. 114 With heel-and-toe braking and gear changing he flicked down through the gears.
2012 Business Day (S. Afr.) (Nexis) 16 Aug. The classic heel and toe method we would use in racing cars.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2017; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
> as lemmas
to heel and toe
Phrases
to heel and toe.
a. To dance, esp. by alternately touching the ground with one's heel and toes. Cf. heel and toe n. 1.
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1845 A. M. Hall Whiteboy I. iv. 61 [He] performed a most characteristic and animated jig in the dust, covering the buckle—heeling and toeing—whirling his whip.
1865 J. Pike Scout & Ranger xiv. 165 The men heeled and toed with a hearty goodwill.
1916 W. H. Young Merry Banker in Far East iii. 42 While he heeled-and-toed in a hundred different ways I banged the tambourine and tried to be funny with the girls.
1941 C. Porter Compl. Lyrics (1983) 175/2 You will meet someone else, I know, But he'll never heel-and-toe like me.
2008 New Eng. Rev. 29 41 I..was taught how to dance a reel, to promenade and do-si-do, to heel and toe.
b. In a motor vehicle: to work two pedals (usually the brake and accelerator) simultaneously with the heel and toe of one foot in order to maintain speed when taking corners, changing to a lower gear, etc. Also with the brake and accelerator as object. Cf. heel and toe adj. 3.
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1962 Which? July (Suppl.) 96/2 If you want to, you can ‘heel-and-toe’—work brake and accelerator at the same time.
1968 Pop. Sci. Mar. 95/1 I found I could heel-and-toe with the brake and accelerator pedals to downshift under braking, just the way I do when I race.
1978 R. Harris Rich & Beautiful vii. 111 She heeled and toed the brake-accelerator with Formula One precision.
2006 T. Strasser Slide or Die xi. 50 Heeling and toeing while working the clutch, Kennin never let the GTO's tach drop under 4,500 rpm or its tires find traction.
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n.adv.adj.1805as lemmas