Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Same as heel-iron.
  • noun A plate on the butt-end of a gun-stock.
  • noun A small square piece of iron with a hole in the center sunk into the heel of a boot or shoe to receive the screw or spur of a form of skate.

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word heel-plate.

Examples

  • One of them must have gnawed on my ankle some, between the greave and the heel-plate, but he couldn't quite get through.

    Spacehounds of IPC 1927

  • The outlaw twisted round on his heels; but he moved an instant too late, for even as his fingers tightened on the trigger the steel heel-plate descended in the center of his face, and I felt something crunch in under it.

    Lorimer of the Northwest Harold Bindloss 1905

  • I heard no explosion -- one rarely does when watching the result intently -- but there was a red flash from the tilting muzzle, and the heel-plate jarred my shoulder.

    Lorimer of the Northwest Harold Bindloss 1905

  • The connecting string broke, and one of the boots, iron heel-plate downwards, caught him across the bridge of the nose and cut him to the bone.

    Reminiscences of a South African Pioneer 1899

  • And he kneeled down and begun to unscrew the heel-plate, everybody watching; and when he got that big di'mond out of that boot-heel and held it up and let it flash and blaze and squirt sunlight everwhichaway, it just took everybody's breath; and Jubiter he looked so sick and sorry you never see the like of it.

    Tom Sawyer, Detective 1896

  • Continuing his search Whitson found the iron heel-plate of a boot, and a small bunch of keys.

    Stories by English Authors: Africa (Selected by Scribners) Percy Addleshaw 1891

  • And he kneeled down and begun to unscrew the heel-plate, everybody watching; and when he got that big di'mond out of that boot-heel and held it up and let it flash and blaze and squirt sunlight everwhichaway, it just took everybody's breath; and

    Tom Sawyer, Detective Mark Twain 1872

  • Unscrew the heel-plate and bore recesses; insert what you desire, after wrapping it tightly in cloth and plugging it in; then replace the heel-plate.

    The Art of Travel Shifts and Contrivances Available in Wild Countries Francis Galton 1866

  • Continuing his search "Whitson found the iron heel-plate of a boot, and a small bunch of keys.

    Kafir Stories Seven Short Stories 1899

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.