noun
- a shoelace.
- a very small amount of money.
- shoestrings. shoestring potatoes.
adjective
- consisting of or characterized by a small amount of money: living on a shoestring budget.
noun
- another word for shoelace
- informal
- a very small or petty amount of money (esp in the phrase on a shoestring)
- (as modifier)a shoestring budget
1610s, from shoe (n.) + string (n.). As figurative for “a small amount” it is recorded from 1882; as a type of necktie, from 1903; as a style of cooked potatoes from 1906.
see on a shoestring.