as ever trod shoe-leather

Meaning: (idiomatic,archaic)As everexistedorlived.1767, Andrew Barton [pseudonym; Thomas Forrest orFrancis Hopkinson?],The Disappointment, or, The Force of Credulity: A New American Comic-opera, of Two Acts, New York[i.e., Philadelphia, Penn.]: Printed [byJohn Dunlap?],→OCLC;The Disappointment, or, The Force of Credulity: A New American Comic-opera, in Three Acts, 2nd edition, Philadelphia, Penn.: Printed for and sold by Francis Shallus[…],1796,→OCLC, page34:As grate a rascal,as ever trod shoe-leather.1809February,E[nos] Bronsonet al., “On the Marriage Manufactory at Gretna Green”, inSelect Reviews, and Spirit of the Foreign Magazines, volume I, Philadelphia, Pa.: From the Lorenzo Press of E. Bronson; published by Hopkins and Earle,[…],→OCLC,page118:As handsome a gentleman, to be sure,as ever trod shoe leather! I wonder that old folks can be so very,veryblind!1825,[John Neal], chapter XXVI, inBrother Jonathan: Or, The New Englanders: In Three Volumes, volume II, Edinburgh:William Blackwood; London:T[homas]Cadell,[…],→OCLC,page446:"He is a brave Indian, sir." – "Oh – is that all?" – "As brave a man,as ever trod shoe leather." – "Hum!" – "Yes." – "But Indians – do they tread shoe leather?" – "He's very brave, I mean – very." – "Why not say so, then?" – "I do."1830,[Theodore Edward Hook], chapter II, inMaxwell.[...]In Three Volumes, volume II, London:Henry ColburnandRichard Bentley,[…],→OCLC,pages54–55:[I]t's his temper as has saved his life; he's the best-temperdest creturas ever trod shoe leather.1855October 6,[Elizabeth Gaskell], “Half a Life-time Ago”, inCharles Dickens, editor,Household Words: A Weekly Journal, volume XII, number289, London: [Household Words] Office (printed byBradbury and Evans),→OCLC,page236:I've ne'er heard his name named since I saw him go out of the yard as stout a manas ever trod shoe-leather.c.1855,Lyman Beecher, “The Revival”, inCharles Beecher, editor,Autobiography, Correspondence, etc., of Lyman Beecher, D.D., volume II, New York, N.Y.:Harper & Brothers, published1865,→OCLC,page72:It was as finely organized a Churchas ever trod shoe-leather.1865September 23, “Mrs. Brown and the Emperor of the French”, inFun, London: Published (for the proprietors) by Thomas Baker,→OCLC,page17:I'm sure I never shall forget the turn young SIMMONSgave me when he came in with that paper as he'd been and copied out of a winder thro' being in a west-end house, tho' livin' at home with his mother, as steady a womanas ever trod shoe-leather, [...]

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