Hobnail (footwear)
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For other uses, see Hobnail (disambiguation).
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In footwear, a hobnail is a short nail with a thick head used to increase the durability of boot soles.
Hobnailed boots (known in Scotland as 'tackety boots') are boots with hobnails, usually installed in a regular pattern, over the sole. They also usually have an iron horseshoe-shaped insert, called a heel iron, to strengthen the heel, and an iron toe-piece. The hobnails project below the sole and provide traction on soft or rocky ground, but they tend to slide on smooth hard surfaces.
They have been used since antiquity for inexpensive durable footwear, often by workmen and the military, including as the trench boots of World War I. [1]
[edit] Etymology
[edit] References
- ^ Chambers's etymological dictionary of the English language http://books.google.com/books?id=ni8FAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA231&lpg=PA231&dq=hobnail
- ^ Chambers's etymological dictionary of the English language http://books.google.com/books?id=r30KAAAAIAAJ&pg=RA1-PA497&dq=stud
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