adj, noun, slang ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A stereotypical male Ivy League college student. US, slang

Adjective

1. 1
   Effeminate or immature. US, slang
2. 2
   Establishment; pertaining to mainstream US social power-structures. US, slang

   "Dulles had been a junior diplomat after World War I and a white-shoe Wall Street lawyer in the Depression."

Adjective

1. 1
   denoting a company or law firm owned and run by members of the WASP elite who are generally conservative wordnet

Example

More examples

"Dulles had been a junior diplomat after World War I and a white-shoe Wall Street lawyer in the Depression."

Etymology

For the noun, from their traditional footwear. For the adjective, from the preponderance of Ivy League graduates hired by such firms.

Related phrases

white-shoe firm

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.