Meanings
- figurativelyuncountablePractical experience.
Cook never attained meaningful practical experience, but Herron loved site mud on his boots.
2008, Kenneth Allinson, Architects and Architecture of London, page 3902 more examples
The civil engineer, for all his skills, is still often known as the man with mud on his boots.
1966, Teaching Engineering Design: Proceedings of the Conference on the Teaching of Engineering Design held at Scarborough between 13 and April 1966I used to place architects on a higher level, well above someone like me who works with his hands and gets mud on his boots.
2001, Stephen S. Saucerman, Moving to Commercial Construction, page 96
Origin
An allusion to various lines of work where a person is physically present on site, e.g. construction as opposed to architectural design.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
mud on one's boots. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mud%20on%20one's%20boots
“mud on one's boots.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mud%20on%20one's%20boots. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “mud on one's boots,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mud%20on%20one's%20boots.
Source: mud on one's boots on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.