Well Heeled?

[Cruise Arizona]

Read and article in Cruise Travel magazine today that described passengers as " Well Heeled". I think this means they wear expensive clothes, but I'm not sure. Can anyone fill me in on what this means and the origins of the expression?

[Jane110]

This is from http://www.wordreference.com

 

 

well-heeled

A adjective

1 comfortable, easy, prosperous, well-fixed, well-heeled, well-off, well-situated, well-to-do

 

in fortunate circumstances financially; moderately rich; "they were comfortable or even wealthy by some standards"; "easy living"; "a prosperous family"; "his family is well-situated financially"; "well-to-do members of the community"

[Jane110]

Here's the origin from http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-wel1.htm

 

 

[Q] From Michael McKinney: “Any interesting tidbits about the expression well heeled?”

[A] Well-heeled never had anything to do with people being well shod (so it has no link with down at heel). The original expression came from cock-fighting, and meant to provide one’s bird with good, sharp spurs (considered, it would seem, as a kind of artificial heel) that would inflict the most damage. It was taken over into American usage in frontier days to mean that one was likewise carrying a weapon, but in the more modern sense of a gun (the first recorded use is from a story of Mark Twain’s dated 1866). Only later did it transfer its meaning to being armed with a more powerful weapon still: money.

[Cruise Arizona]

Thanks, I'm glad I asked the question, I had a general idea of what it meant, but was a little off on the origins. I too thought it went back to the day when only the wealthy had nice shoes, but it indeed has a completely different origin.