buskin

[ buhs-kin ]

/ ˈbʌs kɪn /

a thick-soled, laced boot or half boot.

Also called cothurnus. the high, thick-soled shoe worn by ancient Greek and Roman tragedians.

buskins, stockings decorated with gold thread worn by a bishop at a Pontifical Mass.

tragic drama; tragedy. Compare sock¹(def 3).

the art of acting, especially tragic acting.

a woman's low-cut shoe with elastic gores at the sides of the instep, popular in the early 20th century.

Origin of buskin

1495–1505; probably alteration of Middle French bro(u)sequin, of uncertain origin

Cf. Il Penseroso, 102: "the buskin'd stage;" that is, the tragic stage.

Select Poems of Thomas Gray |Thomas Gray
In that early epoch of our literature the sock and buskin had indeed been worn by a reckless race.

Amenities of Literature |Isaac Disraeli
But now I hope to do easily much more of the kind, and that our new Irish players will find the buskin and the sock.

In The Seven Woods |William Butler (W.B.) Yeats
Here there were only two rooms, one for Buskin, the maid-servant, and the other unfurnished.

Susan |Amy Walton

There is one point of resemblance between the hero of the sock and buskin and the Knight of the quill.

My Life: or the Adventures of Geo. Thompson |George Thompson

buskin

/ (ˈbʌskɪn) /

(formerly) a sandal-like covering for the foot and leg, reaching the calf and usually laced

Also called: cothurnus a thick-soled laced half boot resembling this, worn esp by actors of ancient Greece

the buskin mainly literary tragic drama

C16: perhaps from Spanish borzeguí; related to Old French bouzequin, Italian borzacchino, of obscure origin