Resoling

Part of speech: verb, noun

Definitions

1. Attaching a fresh replacement sole to the bottom of a worn shoe or boot so it can be worn again
2. Repairing footwear by renewing its base layer with a new piece of sole material
3. Replacing the worn underside of a shoe with a new sole during repair work

Etymology: "Resoling" is the present participle and gerund of "resole", a verb meaning to fit a new sole to a shoe. The word is a simple formation: the prefix "re-", meaning again or anew, attached to "sole", the underside of a shoe. Resoling is therefore literally putting a fresh sole on something that already has one, which makes it a practical repair rather than a new object. The prefix "re-" comes into English from Latin "re-", which carried the same sense of back or again, and it reached English through Old French "re-" in the Middle English period. "Sole" for the foot of a shoe has an older pedigree of its own, and English joined it to the prefix to form "resole", so the two parts of the word have travelled very different routes before meeting.

Synonyms: repair, mend, restore