shoeblackn.
/ˈʃuːblak/, U.S. /ˈʃuˌblæk/ 1. A person who cleans boots and shoes for a livelihood.
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the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > cleaning shoes > [noun] > one who
black-shoe boy1725
Japanner1725
shoe-cleaner1725
shoe-blacker1735
shoe-boy1735
shoeblack1772
boot-black1817
boot-boy1860
shoe-shiner1910
shiner1912
1772 J. Adams Diary 29 Dec. in Wks. (1850) II. 306 A porter, a shoeblack, or chimney sweep.
a1777 S. Foote Trip to Calais (1778) i. 21 As I live, a couple of shoe-blacks.
1834 T. Carlyle Sartor Resartus ii. ix. 68/2 Will the whole Finance Ministers..of modern Europe undertake..to make one Shoeblack Happy?
1862 G. H. Townsend Man. Dates at Shoeblacks The existing ragged school shoeblack brigade was founded in 1851.
2. In full shoe-black plant = shoe-flower n. at shoe n. Compounds 3.
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the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular cultivated or ornamental plants > cultivated or ornamental trees and shrubs > [noun] > China-rose
China-rose1731
Martinique rose1797
shoe-flower1814
shoeblack1837
1837 J. Macfadyen Flora Jamaica I. 66 The flowers, from the mucilaginous juice they contain, are employed to give a polish to the leather of shoes; and hence the plant has received the name of the shoe-black.
1858 P. L. Simmonds Dict. Trade Products Shoe-black,..a name in Jamaica for the Hibiscus rosa sinensis.
1866 J. Lindley & T. Moore Treasury Bot. I. 589/1 Hibiscus Rosa sinensis... These flowers..are used..in Java for blacking shoes, whence the plant is frequently called the Shoe-black Plant.
1965 Harper's Bazaar Feb. 18/3 The scarlet blossoms of the bush they [sc. Jamaicans] call the Shoe-Black.
Derivatives
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the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > cleaning shoes > [noun] > one who
black-shoe boy1725
Japanner1725
shoe-cleaner1725
shoe-blacker1735
shoe-boy1735
shoeblack1772
boot-black1817
boot-boy1860
shoe-shiner1910
shiner1912
1735 Lives Most Remarkable Criminals III. (Appendix) 448 Shoe-blackers, and such like Vagabonds, were his constant Companions.
1755 S. Johnson Dict. Eng. Lang. at Japanner A shoeblacker.
1843 M. A. Richardson Hist. in Local Historian's Table-bk. II. Index Shoe blacker.
shoe-blacking n. (a) = blacking n.1 2b; (b) the blacking and polishing of shoes.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > colour > named colours > black or blackness > blackening agent > [noun]
blatchOE
bleckc1440
bleacha1500
bleaching?1518
black1558
bletch1570
blacking?1571
linka1616
denigrator1658
black wash1684
shoe-blacking1735
burnt corkc1800
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > cleaning shoes > [noun]
boot-cleaning1838
boot-blacking1866
shine1871
shoe-blacking1902
shoe-shine1911
1735 Lives Most Remarkable Criminals I. 297 Since he was 13 or 14 had addicted himself to that preparative trade to the Gallows Shoeblacking.
1890 L. C. D'Oyle Notches Rough Edge Life 13 They were..the only persons possessed of shoe-blacking.
1902 A. Terton Lights & Shadows in Hosp. x. 166 His interest in the shoe-blacking soon waned.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1914; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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n.1735