heelpiece

English

Etymology

From heel +‎ piece.

Noun

heelpiece (plural heelpieces)

1. A piece of armour to protect the heels.
   • January 15 1753, Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield, in Letters to His Son, published in 1774

     Courts are to be the theatres of your wars, where you should be always as completely armed , and even with the addition of a heelpiece.

2. A piece of leather fixed on the heel of a shoe.
3. (figuratively) The end.
   • 1761, Robert Lloyd, The Cobler of Tissington's Letter to David Garrick, Esq.:

     the heel-piece of his book

References

“heelpiece”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.