It all goes back to a well-heeled cock

Tuesday, October 11th, 2022

I didn’t know the origin of “well-heeled,” so I looked it up:

Originally American English, from a literal use in cockfighting: a well-heeled cock was provided with sharp spurs and could inflict maximum damage. From this developed the American frontier slang sense of being well-equipped, and thence the modern sense of being well supplied with money.

Comments

  1. Testudo says:

    This probably also explains the use of the word “heeled” to mean armed (as famously heard in Tombstone when Wyatt is taking over the faro game.)

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