1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Golosh

GOLOSH, or Galosh (from the Fr. galoche, Low Lat. calopedes, a wooden shoe or clog; an adaptation of the Gr. καλοπόδιον, a diminutive formed of κᾶλον, wood, and ποῦς, foot), originally a wooden shoe or patten, or merely a wooden sole fastened to the foot by a strap or cord. In the middle ages “galosh” was a general term for a boot or shoe, particularly one with a wooden sole. In modern usage, it is an outer shoe worn in bad weather to protect the inner one, and keep the feet dry. Goloshes are now almost universally made of rubber, and in the United States they are known as “rubbers” simply, the word golosh being rarely if ever used. In the bootmakers’ trade, a “golosh” is the piece of leather, of a make stronger than, or different from that of the “uppers,” which runs around the bottom part of a boot or shoe, just above the sole.