shoepak

English

Etymology

Borrowing from the Lenape Indian word “shipak”, influenced by shoe.

Noun

shoepak (plural shoepaks)

1. A heavy leather, ankle-high shoe, similar to a moccasin in that it lacks a separate sole.
   • 1963, Agnes Sylvia Rodli, North of Heaven: A Teaching Ministry Among the Alaskan Indians:

     Most of them were barefoot; a few had canvas footwear. A couple of the older ones wore shoepaks or heavy boots.

   • 1989, Will Nordby, Seekers of the horizon: sea kayaking voyages from around the world, →ISBN:

     Footwear had always been a problem in the kayak. Shoepaks kept my feet warm and dry, but were stiff and heavy to wear in the little boat. Regular mukluks were light and flexible, but didn't work too well when they were wet.

   • 1990, Cully Gage, The Northwoods Reader, →ISBN, page 20:

     She wore shoepaks to church and they tell of the time she asked the butcher to cut the cheese with the ham knife: "I dearly love the flavor of ham," she said.

2. A heavy lined workboot worn by loggers and used in the military.
   • 1972, Meredith L. Butterton, Metric 16, page 283:

     Garment factories did their job too, and soon we would fare as well as combat troops and be furnished wool jackets, shoepaks, overshoes, service boots, panchos and wool gloves.

   • 2001, Michael Hickey, The Korean War: The West Confronts Communism, →ISBN:

     In the words of the US Marine historian: 'In shoepaks, perspiration-soaked feet became transformed into lumps of biting pain.'

   • 2014, David Webster, Parachute Infantry: The book that inspired Band of Brothers, →ISBN:

     We had a rough time at Bastogne. No parkas, no shoepaks, no ammo, no nothing.