poulainen.
/puːˈleɪn/, U.S. /puˈleɪn/ Fashion. historical.
The long pointed toe of a shoe made in a style fashionable in the 14th and 15th centuries; = pike n.1 4a. Also: a shoe of this kind; = crakow n.
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the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > footwear > parts of footwear > [noun] > toe > types of
pike1394
poulaine1530
box toe1863
razor toe1895
moc-toe1925
1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 259/1 Pullayne, poullane.
1706 Phillips's New World of Words (new ed.) Poleine, a sort of shooe pick'd and turn'd up at the Toe.
1799 tr. G. Paradin Hist. de Lyons in J. Strutt Compl. View Dress & Habits II. 257 When men became tired of these pointed shoes, which were called poulaines, they adopted others in their stead, denominated duck-bills.
1834 J. R. Planché Hist. Brit. Costume 202 No one under the estate of a lord was permitted to wear pikes or poleines to his shoes..exceeding two inches in length.
1877 Encycl. Brit. VI. 469/2 The half-boots or shoes distinguished as poulaines continued to be long and very sharply pointed.
1938 S. Beckett Murphy ix. 186 Black silk pyjamas and neo-merovingian poulaines of deepest purple.
1981 M. Warner Joan of Arc viii. 170 ‘Poulaines’, the later, English winkle-pickers, first came into vogue when Anne of Bohemia's suite brought this ‘Polish’ fashion to the English court.
2005 C. Dyer Age of Transition? iv. 144 The notorious poulaine shoe, with toes up to 4 inches long..was indeed worn in London in the late fourteenth century.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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