"white-shoe" meaning in English

See white-shoe in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adjective

Audio: En-au-white-shoe.ogg [Australia] Forms: more white-shoe [comparative], most white-shoe [superlative]
Etymology: For the noun, from their traditional footwear. For the adjective, from the preponderance of Ivy League graduates hired by such firms. Head templates: {{en-adj}} white-shoe (comparative more white-shoe, superlative most white-shoe)
  1. (US, slang) Effeminate or immature. Tags: US, slang
    Sense id: en-white-shoe-en-adj-WBtSGJTf Categories (other): American English
  2. (US, slang) Establishment; pertaining to mainstream US social power-structures. Tags: US, slang
    Sense id: en-white-shoe-en-adj-2nIL~GY- Categories (other): American English
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Derived forms: white-shoe firm

Noun

Audio: En-au-white-shoe.ogg [Australia] Forms: white-shoes [plural]
Etymology: For the noun, from their traditional footwear. For the adjective, from the preponderance of Ivy League graduates hired by such firms. Head templates: {{en-noun}} white-shoe (plural white-shoes)
  1. (US, slang) A stereotypical male Ivy League college student. Tags: US, slang
    Sense id: en-white-shoe-en-noun-YLOw-q3f Categories (other): American English, English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 8 25 68

Inflected forms

Download JSON data for white-shoe meaning in English (3.4kB)

{
  "etymology_text": "For the noun, from their traditional footwear. For the adjective, from the preponderance of Ivy League graduates hired by such firms.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "white-shoes",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "white-shoe (plural white-shoes)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "American English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "8 25 68",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A stereotypical male Ivy League college student."
      ],
      "id": "en-white-shoe-en-noun-YLOw-q3f",
      "links": [
        [
          "Ivy League",
          "Ivy League"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(US, slang) A stereotypical male Ivy League college student."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "slang"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-white-shoe.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/2/22/En-au-white-shoe.ogg/En-au-white-shoe.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/22/En-au-white-shoe.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "white-shoe"
}

{
  "derived": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "white-shoe firm"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "For the noun, from their traditional footwear. For the adjective, from the preponderance of Ivy League graduates hired by such firms.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "more white-shoe",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most white-shoe",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "white-shoe (comparative more white-shoe, superlative most white-shoe)",
      "name": "en-adj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "American English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Effeminate or immature."
      ],
      "id": "en-white-shoe-en-adj-WBtSGJTf",
      "links": [
        [
          "Effeminate",
          "effeminate"
        ],
        [
          "immature",
          "immature"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(US, slang) Effeminate or immature."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "slang"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "American English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2007, Tim Weiner, Legacy of Ashes, Penguin, published 2008, page 26",
          "text": "Dulles had been a junior diplomat after World War I and a white-shoe Wall Street lawyer in the Depression.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2017 September 19, Jennifer Szalai, “The Education of Ellen Pao”, in New York Times",
          "text": "In “Reset: My Fight for Inclusion and Lasting Change,” Ellen K. Pao traces a journey of disillusionment that culminated in the lawsuit she brought against her employer, the white-shoe venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, for gender discrimination.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Establishment; pertaining to mainstream US social power-structures."
      ],
      "id": "en-white-shoe-en-adj-2nIL~GY-",
      "links": [
        [
          "Establishment",
          "establishment"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(US, slang) Establishment; pertaining to mainstream US social power-structures."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "slang"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-white-shoe.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/2/22/En-au-white-shoe.ogg/En-au-white-shoe.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/22/En-au-white-shoe.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "white-shoe"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English adjectives",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms with audio links"
  ],
  "etymology_text": "For the noun, from their traditional footwear. For the adjective, from the preponderance of Ivy League graduates hired by such firms.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "white-shoes",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "white-shoe (plural white-shoes)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "American English",
        "English slang"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A stereotypical male Ivy League college student."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Ivy League",
          "Ivy League"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(US, slang) A stereotypical male Ivy League college student."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "slang"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-white-shoe.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/2/22/En-au-white-shoe.ogg/En-au-white-shoe.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/22/En-au-white-shoe.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "white-shoe"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English adjectives",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms with audio links"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "white-shoe firm"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "For the noun, from their traditional footwear. For the adjective, from the preponderance of Ivy League graduates hired by such firms.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "more white-shoe",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most white-shoe",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "white-shoe (comparative more white-shoe, superlative most white-shoe)",
      "name": "en-adj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "American English",
        "English slang"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Effeminate or immature."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Effeminate",
          "effeminate"
        ],
        [
          "immature",
          "immature"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(US, slang) Effeminate or immature."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "slang"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "American English",
        "English slang",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2007, Tim Weiner, Legacy of Ashes, Penguin, published 2008, page 26",
          "text": "Dulles had been a junior diplomat after World War I and a white-shoe Wall Street lawyer in the Depression.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2017 September 19, Jennifer Szalai, “The Education of Ellen Pao”, in New York Times",
          "text": "In “Reset: My Fight for Inclusion and Lasting Change,” Ellen K. Pao traces a journey of disillusionment that culminated in the lawsuit she brought against her employer, the white-shoe venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, for gender discrimination.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Establishment; pertaining to mainstream US social power-structures."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Establishment",
          "establishment"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(US, slang) Establishment; pertaining to mainstream US social power-structures."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "slang"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-white-shoe.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/2/22/En-au-white-shoe.ogg/En-au-white-shoe.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/22/En-au-white-shoe.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "white-shoe"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-01 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.