soft shoe meaning: definition, quotations

soft shoe

noun

A kind of tap dancing performed in soft-soled shoes, popular in vaudeville.

Performing arts

Between Mr. O'Connor and Mr. Newley there's a delightful exhibition of the dances and their origin dating gack a few hundred years, from the clog to the buck, the wing, and the buck and wing, and on to the old soft shoe and more.1966 Jan. 15, "Sunday (TV listings)," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, p. 19 (retrieved 5 Oct 2008)
Like the technically astounding and spiritually hollow production numbers, however, [Emily] Blunt can't situate the sentimental energy in a deeper foundation. Her excellence gets left in a sort of vacuum when paired with the fully extraneous train wreck of a visit with Meryl Streep as kooky Poppins cousin Topsy or some discomfiting soft shoe from a creaky Dick Van Dyke.2018 December 12, Charles Bramesco, “A Spoonful of Nostalgia Helps the Calculated Mary Poppins Returns Go Down”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 24 May 2019:

Idiomatic A speech, explanation, sales pitch, or other set of remarks delivered in a restrained or conciliatory manner in order to persuade, distract, or otherwise influence someone.

Is the salesman's soft-shoe appropriate in a time of national mourning?2001 November 26, Adam Piore, “Red, White And What A Deal!”, in Newsweek, retrieved 01 May 2014:

soft shoe

adj

Of or pertaining to this kind of dancing.

Usually hyphenated

Idiomatic Casual, low-key, easy-going.

Occasionally criticized for his soft-shoe approach (e.g., he urged the President to avoid a public squabble with Joe McCarthy), Persons nonetheless won many a legislator over to the Administration side.1958 October 6, “Mellow Man in Charge”, in Time, retrieved 05 Oct 2008:

soft shoe

verb

To perform a dance of this kind.