Thin cords threaded through holes in shoes to hold them on your feet tightly.
Compound from 'shoe' (from Old English 'scoh') and 'lace' (from Old French 'lace' meaning 'to tie'). Before modern shoelaces, people used leather strips, ribbons, and buttons to fasten shoes.
Shoelaces are actually a relatively modern invention—for most of history, people used buckles, buttons, or just wrapped leather around their feet! The bow-tying shoelace became standard only in the 1600s-1700s.
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