English · Idiom Historical

waiting for dead men's shoes

Preserved but no longer current.

Meaning · English

Looking out for legacies; looking to stand in the place of some moneyed man when he is dead and buried.

Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)

Sources & notes

Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.

Topics: Clothes Life & death Historical slang (1800s)

Common questions

What does “waiting for dead men's shoes” mean?

Looking out for legacies; looking to stand in the place of some moneyed man when he is dead and buried.

Is “waiting for dead men's shoes” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.

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