Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A worker in cordwain or cordovan leather; hence, a worker in leather of any kind; a shoemaker.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun Archaic. A worker in cordwain, or cordovan leather; a shoemaker.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun a
shoemaker - noun a worker in
cordwain , aleather fromCórdoba . - noun a member of the Cordwainers
livery company
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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So he sees -- he sees a soldier hit a woman and rob her, or he himself mends shoes for some of -- a shoemaker would then be called a cordwainer or a cobbler.
The Shoemaker and the Tea Party: Memory & the American Revolution 1999
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June 11th, 2010 | Tags: china mieville, cordwainer smith, Joe R.
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I just redid cordwainer-smith. com and now the page about the award is at the link on my name above.
Science Fiction Awards Watch » Cordwainer Smith Rediscovery Award 2007
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Writing just before the LFP formed, William English, a Philadelphia cordwainer, labor politician, and delegate to the New
Advocating The Man: Masculinity, Organized Labor, and the Household in New York, 1800-1840 2006
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Haven't seen a cordwainer for many years my grandfather was one, but he was long gone before I arrived.
WTF? 2008
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Outworking cordwainer William Dougherty was not a union member during a short turnout in October of 1811, when he labored "for a livelihood for himself & family," but still faced a union reprimand when he tried to join the organization a couple of weeks later.
Advocating The Man: Masculinity, Organized Labor, and the Household in New York, 1800-1840 2006
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“Both equally necessary members of the body corporate,” said Henry, whose father had been a cordwainer.
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William Sampson, their radical Irish defense lawyer, invited master cordwainer plaintiffs to imagine themselves in the shoes of a typical journeyman.
Advocating The Man: Masculinity, Organized Labor, and the Household in New York, 1800-1840 2006
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For the cordwainer, a family to feed and educate in the domestic realm was as vital a component of the performance of his manly workplace duties as a hammer and a leather apron. 14 There was no perceived separation between his duties stitching leather and his duties feeding and educating his family.
Advocating The Man: Masculinity, Organized Labor, and the Household in New York, 1800-1840 2006
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Tim, being (I suppose) out of credit with the cordwainer, fell upon this ingenious expedient to supply the want of shoes, knowing that Mr Birkin, who loves humour, would himself relish the joke upon a little recollection.
reesetee commented on the word cordwainer
(Archaic) A worker in cordwain, or cordovan leather; a shoemaker.
July 20, 2007
bilby commented on the word cordwainer
"So they went into England, and went as far as Hereford; and they betook themselves to making shoes. And he began by buying the best cordwain that could be had in the town, and none other would buy. And he associated himself with the best goldsmith in the town, and caused him to make clasps for the shoes, and to gild the clasps; and he marked how it was done until he learned the method. And therefore is he called one of the three makers of gold shoes. And when they could be had from him, not a shoe nor hose was bought of any of the cordwainers in the town. But when the cordwainers perceived that their gains were failing (for as Manawyddan shaped the work, so Kicva stitched it), they came together and took counsel, and agreed that they would slay them. And he had warning thereof, and it was told him how the cordwainers had agreed together to slay him."
- Thomas Bulfinch, 'Age of Fable'.
September 19, 2009
bluemartian commented on the word cordwainer
This word is used in the pseudonym of Cordwainer Smith, the wonderful science fiction author.
September 8, 2010
knitandpurl commented on the word cordwainer
"Now was Rusty a childish Binelli-issued nickname for his redheaded sister, or was it a reference to the scavenged nail that poked one or the other young cordwainer in the big toe and began a period of infectious infirmary that would lead to the necessity of finding a crafty activity to fill the long hours of bedridden days, an activity of which the children failed to tire, though strength returned; no by god, they never tired of this, the smell of leather, the meticulous stitching, the shodding of the people, the heady glamour, the creative juices stirring within pent-up loins, loins that hungered for the tickle of a stray red wisp tossed carelessly past a hollowed cheek—well, it is all conjecture and as such not for this report to contemplate. Shoes were made, many shoes."
Orion You Came and You Took All My Marbles by Kira Henehan, p 48
February 28, 2011
hernesheir commented on the word cordwainer
The Worshipful Company of Cordwainers is one of London's livery companies, around since 1272. You can follow them on Twitter @Cordwainers. Cordovan, the fine leather from Córdoba in Andalusia, cordwain from cordovan. Fine leathery livery.
October 3, 2013