soft shoe

alternative softshoe · alternative soft-shoe

1. uncountableperforming artsA kind of tap dancing performed in soft-soled shoes, popular in vaudeville.

   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)

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   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

2. idiomaticuncountableA 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

alternative softshoe · alternative soft-shoe

1. not comparableusually hyphenatedOf or pertaining to this kind of dancing.
2. idiomaticnot comparableCasual, 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

present singular third person soft shoes · participle present soft shoeing · participle past soft shoed · past soft shoed · alternative softshoe · alternative soft-shoe

1. To perform a dance of this kind.