gumshoen.
/ˈɡʌmʃuː/, U.S. /ˈɡəmˌʃu/ 1. U.S. A waterproof overshoe, typically made of rubber; a shoe with a rubber sole. Cf. gumboots n. at gum n.2 Compounds 2a.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > footwear > shoe or boot > shoe > [noun] > types of > overshoe
galosh1373
overshoe1770
gumshoe1841
gun-boat1870
bootee1920
1841 Wheeling (W. Va.) Times & Advertiser 2 Feb. Keep your feet dry... Gumshoes, a superior article.
1863 P. S. Davis Young Parson i. 12 A little boy who wore his father's gum shoes in dry weather.
1872 Morning Post 9 Jan. Forbidding him..to leave his gum-shoes in her hall.
1906 Red Bk. July 337/1 Mr. Bilks felt a wave of righteous indignation sweep over him as he swung his gum shoes over the sill and carefully kept a few paces behind the commercialized burglar.
2009 C. D. Campbell Surest Poison ix. 53 You'd better wear your gumshoes, though. Have you seen tomorrow's forecast?
2. Originally U.S. colloquial. A detective, esp. a private detective.Cf. earlier Compounds 2, and also quot. 1905, which shows an extended use of sense 1 referring to the work of a railroad detective.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > law enforcement > investigation of crime > [noun] > detective
plant1812
plain clothes1822
detective1850
plainclothesman1856
mouser1863
D.1869
sleuth1872
tec1879
dee1882
demon1889
sleuth-hound1890
split1891
fink1903
hawkshaw1903
busy1904
dick1905
gumshoe1913
Richard1914
shamus1925
cozzer1950
Five-O1983
1905 Yorkville (South Carolina) Enquirer 6 Jan. 1/8 I hadn't been wearing railroad gumshoes very long before I was turned loose on a case where a sixteen year old boy wanted $100,000 damages..as the result of a railroad wreck.]
1913 H. A. Franck Zone Policeman 88 159 But the ‘gum shoe’ naturally cannot twirl a police club.
1927 D. Hammett in Black Mask Nov. 21/2 He..looked me up and down, growled: ‘So you're a lousy gum-shoe.’
2016 Radio Times 16 July (South/West ed.) 55/3 The Swedish gumshoe delves into the dark world of art fraud.
Compounds
Originally U.S. C1. As a modifier. Designating something or someone characterized by stealthy or quiet action; largely unnoticed, attracting little attention; surreptitious, secretive. Now rare.With allusion to gumshoes (sense 1) enabling a person to move quietly or stealthily.
ΚΠ
1889 Cincinnati Commerc. Gaz. 18 July 1/7 (heading) The gumshoe brigade greatly pleased with the suggestion of Doc Norton and Lew Bernard.
1897 N.Y. Times 29 Oct. 1/5 The gum-shoe candidate does not dare come out.
1907 Springfield (Mass.) Weekly Republican 4 Apr. 2 He..was forced to accomplish his ends by main strength rather than by gum-shoe methods.
1927 Daily Express 7 Nov. 9/2 The film..has obtained a gum-shoe circulation in Britain.
1961 Valley Independent (Monessen, Pa.) 5 July 4/1 We see no earthly reason why the choice of a site for a town post office had to be made as if it were a gumshoe deal which the public can't be trusted to know anything about.
C2. As a modifier. Designating a private detective or a plainclothes police detective; designating investigative or detective work. Cf. sense 2.Probably originally simply a contextual use of the sense described at Compounds 1.
ΚΠ
1900 C. L. Cullen Tales of Ex-tanks 296 ‘You and this gum-shoe sleuth of yours are up in the air,’ I said to the desk sergeant.
1906 A. H. Lewis Confess. Detective 198 You're d'gum-shoe guy I was waitin' fer... It was Inspector Val tells me to lay for you.
1908 J. M. Sullivan Criminal Slang 11 Gumshoe worker, a private detective; a spotter.
1962 Spectator 1 June 728/3 Ross MacDonald..is a thoroughly competent detective-story writer, specialising in West Coast private-eye stories. In The Wycherly Woman..his gumshoe hero Archer searches for a missing student.
1975 Newsweek 29 Sept. 20/2 The FBI proudly maintained that it was solid gumshoe work that led to last week's arrests.
2017 Courier Mail (Queensland, Austral.) (Nexis) 16 Sept. 25 Her new novel featuring her deaf gumshoe protagonist..is being ordered in by the bucketload at bookshops.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2022).
gumshoev.
/ˈɡʌmʃuː/, U.S. /ˈɡəmˌʃu/ colloquial (originally U.S.)
1. intransitive. Originally: to move or behave in a secret or surreptitious way; to sneak about. Later usually: to engage in investigative or detective work.With allusion to gumshoes (gumshoe n. 1) enabling a person to move quietly or stealthily.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > secrecy, concealment > stealthy action, stealth > stealthy movement > move stealthily [verb (intransitive)]
besteala725
snikec897
steal1154
creepc1175
skulk?c1225
snaker?c1225
stalkc1300
slenchc1330
lurka1375
slinkc1374
snokec1380
slide1382
slipc1400
mitchera1575
sneak1598
snake1818
sly1825
snoop1832
to steal one's way1847
sniggle1881
gumshoe1897
slime1898
pussyfoot1902
soft-foot1913
cat-foot1916
pussy1919
pussa1953
1897 Burlington (Iowa) Hawk-eye 24 Feb. 8/1 Managers of all the big leagues in the country are gumshoeing around his premises for the purpose of securing some of his players.
1930 Publishers' Weekly 8 Feb. 718 Under the present obscene book law the vice crusader..goes gum-shoeing around from one bookseller to another.
1951 J. Cannan And All I Learned ix. 140 A seventeenth-century President of Trinity who gum-shoed round the college gardens carrying a whip.
1977 J. le Carré Honourable Schoolboy i. vi. 114 He was about to gumshoe down a back alley in Prague.
1998 Age (Melbourne) (Nexis) 31 Mar. (Computers section) 1 He is a spook gumshoeing around the world on secret missions.
2021 Sc. Express (Nexis) 16 Oct. 35 Gumshoeing discreetly around the case of a prominent local figure bumped off on his doorstep, Perez finds the victim was killed by a custom-made slug from a wartime Walther P38 pistol.
2. transitive. To investigate (a person, organization, etc.), esp. as a detective.In quot. 1908 at sense 1 intransitive in to gumshoe for: to look for.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > law enforcement > investigation of crime > investigate or discover as a detective [verb (transitive)]
gumshoe1913
detect1928
sleuth1939
1913 Town Talk (San Francisco) 22 Feb. 14/3 Finally Whitman resolved to ‘gumshoe’ the detectives, and the result was that he found them playing into the hands of the corrupt officials.
2011 K. Slaughter Fallen xix. 408 Take out that black van. I want all four tires down. Clear out this block as quickly as you can. Call in APD [= Atlanta Police Department] to gumshoe it.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2022).
<
n.1841
v.1897