patten

See also:Patten

English

A pair of pattens.

Etymology 1

FromMiddle Englishpatyn,patin,pateyn,fromOld Frenchpatin,frompatte(“paw, hoof”),fromLatinpatta,ofimitativeorigin.

Pronunciation

• (UK)IPA^(key):/ˈpat(ə)n/
• (US)IPA^(key):/ˈpæt(ə)n/
• Homophones:paten,Patton;pattern(non-rhotic)

Noun

patten(pluralpattens)

1. Any of various types offootwearwith thick soles, often used toelevatethefoot,especially woodenclogs.[from 14th c.]
   • 1660February 3 (date written; Gregorian calendar),Samuel Pepys,Mynors Bright,transcriber, “January 24th, 1659–1660”,inHenry B[enjamin] Wheatley,editor,The Diary of Samuel Pepys[…],volumes(please specify |volume=I to X),London:George Bell & Sons[…];Cambridge:Deighton Bell & Co.,published1893–1899,→OCLC:

     I went and told part of the excise money till twelve o’clock, and then called on my wife and took her to Mr. Pierces, she in the way being exceedingly troubled with a pair of newpattens,and I vexed to go so slow, it being late.

   • 1749,Henry Fielding,chapter VIII, inThe History of Tom Jones, a Foundling,volumes(please specify |volume=I to VI),London:A[ndrew]Millar,[…],→OCLC,book IV:

     Tom Freckle, the smith's son, was the next victim to her rage. He was an ingenious workman, and made excellentpattens;nay, the verypattenwith which he was knocked down was his own workmanship.

   • 1819,Jedediah Cleishbotham[pseudonym;Walter Scott], chapter V, inTales of My Landlord, Third Series.[…],volume I (The Bride of Lammermoor), Edinburgh:[…][James Ballantyne and Co.] forArchibald Constable and Co.;London:Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown,[…];Hurst, Robinson, and Co.[…],→OCLC,page150:

     "I fear there is a chase; I think I hear three or four galloping together; I am sure I hear more horses than one." / "Pooh, pooh, it is the wench of the house that is clattering to the well in herpattens;[...]. "

   • 1852March –1853September, Charles Dickens, chapter 4, inBleak House,London:Bradbury and Evans,[…],published1853,→OCLC:

     Nobody had appeared belonging to the house except a person inpattens,who had been poking at the child from below with a broom; I don't know with what object, and I don't think she did.

2. (nowhistorical)One of various wooden attachments used to lift a shoe above wet ormuddyground.[form 16th c.]
   • 1838,Charles Greenstreet Addison,Damascus and Palmyra: A Journey to the East - Volume 2,page64:

     They presented the most extraordinary and comic aspect imaginable, with their shaven heads and long beard; (the heads of all Mussulmen are shaved quite bare, with the exception of a tuft on the very top, which is left for the angel of the tomb on the day of judgment, say they, to grasp and carry them up to heaven by;) besides these, other objects are seen wrapped up in towels, with black grisled beards tickling their breasts, and tottering along on a high pair ofpattensor rather stilts, at the imminent danger, as it appears, of breaking their necks.

   • 1845,Charles Dickens,The Cricket on the Hearth:

     Mrs. Peerybingle, going out into the raw twilight, and clicking over the wet stones in a pair ofpattensthat worked innumerable rough impressions of the first proposition in Euclid all about the yard—Mrs. Peerybingle filled the kettle at the water-butt.

   • 1848November –1850December,William Makepeace Thackeray,chapter 43, inThe History of Pendennis.[…],volumes(please specify |volume=I or II),London:Bradbury and Evans,[…],published1849–1850,→OCLC:

     The doors are many-belled: and crowds of dirty children form endless groups about the steps: or around the shell-fish dealers’ trays in these courts; whereof the damp pavements resound withpattens,and are drabbled with a never-failing mud.

   • 1886,Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine,page739:

     I suppose that those who ramble beyond railways may yet come upon females underpinned with the useful and once indispensablepattens,but for a long time it has not been my lot to look upon a pair. Goloshes, clogs, cork-soles, and other inventions, have quite superseded the noisy old resource; and I am not sure that the modern appliances could make out a perfect claim to superiority over the old, for thepattensnot only kept the feet dry, they also, by raising the wearer from one to two inches, kept the garments out of the mire.

   • 1998,Sharon Ann Burnston, Linda A Scurlock, Chester County Historical Society (West Chester, Pa.),Fitting & proper:

     Pair of Woman's Pattens, c. 1700-80 A pair of woman'spattens,wooden soles riveted to wrought iron platforms with straps of brown leather lined with off-white wool.

   • 2007,Giambattista Basile,translated by Nancy L. Canepa,Tale of Tales,Penguin, page60:

     The servant, who wasn't able to reach the flying coach, picked thepatten[translatingchianiello]up from the ground and brought it to the king, telling him what had happened.

3. (obsolete)A circular wooden plank attached to a horse's foot to prevent it from sinking into a bog while plowing.[18th–19th c.]
   • 1795,D. Walker,General View of the Agriculture of the County of Hertford,page42:

     At and in the neighbourhood of North Meoks, near Ormskirk in Lancashire, there is a whole country of peat, and how deep this soil is God only knows, for the horses which plough thereon wearpattensto keep them from sinking to the bellies: here I was not long ago deluded, by my ignorance of the country and a team inpattens,to attempt riding over ploughed ground to inquire my way.

   • 1814,The Fourth Report of the Commissioners (Ireland) 4 November, 1813 - 30 July, 1814,page215:

     Some trials have been made in Ireland to putpattenson bullocks instead of horses, for ploughing on bog.

4. (nowBritishdialectal)Anice skate.[from 17th c.]
5. (historical)Anironhoopattached to a person'sbootin cases ofhip-jointdisease.
6. Thebaseof apillar.

Derived terms

• pattener
• pattenmaker

Translations

a type of footwear with thick soles, usually wooden

• Bulgarian:налъмm(nalǎm)
• Greek:

  Ancient:κλάπαιfpl(klápai)

• Middle English:patyn
• Ottoman Turkish:نعل(naʼl)

See also

• clog
• chopine
• geta
• sabot
• sandal

Verb

patten(third-person singular simple presentpattens,present participlepattening,simple past and past participlepattened)

1. (intransitive)To go about wearing pattens.

Etymology 2

Variant forms.

Noun

patten(pluralpattens)

1. Obsoleteform ofpaten.

Anagrams

• patent,pét-nat

Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

pattenm

1. definitesingularofpatte

Norwegian Nynorsk

Alternative forms

• patta

Noun

patten

1. definitemasculinesingularofpatte

Swedish

Noun

patten

1. definitesingularofpatte

Anagrams

• patent