poulaine

[ poo-leyn ]

noun

1. a shoe or boot with an elongated pointed toe, fashionable in the 15th century.
2. the toe on such a shoe.

Word History and Origins

Origin of poulaine¹

1520–30; < Middle French Poulaine Poland (in the phrase souliers à la Poulaine shoes of Polish style); compare Anglo-French poleine

Example Sentences

Poulaine, pōō-lān′, n. a long, pointed shoe.

From Project Gutenberg

Madeleine knew him by sight, the six-year-old grandson of Madame Dulcet, a bedridden, old, poor woman on Poulaine Street.

From Project Gutenberg

A red chaperon or cap, with long hanging cornette, sat daintily on the back of his black-curled head, while his gold-hued shoes were twisted up a la poulaine, as though the toes were shooting forth a tendril which might hope in time to entwine itself around his massive leg.

From Project Gutenberg

Go up into the town, and buy for me white bread of the best; and right good flesh, or poulaine if it may be, already cooked and dight; and, withal, the best wine that thou mayst get, and sweetmeats for thy baby; and when thou comest back, we will sit together and dine here. 

From Project Gutenberg

The shoes with poulaines were superseded by a kind of large padded shoe of black leather, round or square at the toes, and gored over the foot with coloured material, a fashion imported from Italy, and which was as much exaggerated in France as the poulaine had formerly been.

From Project Gutenberg