👞 A dance shoe 🧑‍🌾 A young helper

gillie

9.9

A light shoe with no tongue and laces used for Irish or Scottish dancing

noun
/ˈɡɪli/

: gillie

Traditional Scottish dancers often wear gillies for performances.

Examples

These gillies provide flexibility and support for intricate dance steps.
She laced up her gillies before the Irish dance competition began.
He wore a pair of stylish gillies for the dance.
The dancers all had matching gillies for their performance.
She wore elegant gillie shoes to the traditional ceilidh dance.
For the festival, the dancers all laced up their gillie shoes for comfort and style.
His gillie footwear was perfect for showcasing intricate foot movements during the performance.

Synonyms

ghili

vsgillie

9.9

A light soft shoe with laces worn for Scottish dancing

is a specific dance shoe without tongue with decorative instep lacing

Surface Forms

gillie singular

gillies plural

Etymology

Gillie (dance shoe) comes from the Gaelic word gille, which means 'lad' or 'servant'. A helpful way to remember it is to imagine young dancers or attendants wearing those soft, lace-up shoes, so the name became the shoe's name.