soles

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of sole.

   The hikers checked the soles of their boots for embedded stones.

   Several fresh soles lay on crushed ice at the market stall.

   Note

   A regular plural, made with a simple -s, that serves every meaning of the noun at once: the undersides of feet, the bottoms of shoes and boots, the flatfish, even the base of a plow's body. The same spelling also does duty as the plural of sol and as a present-tense verb form, so context tells them apart.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of sole.

   The shoemaker soles each pair with hand-cut leather before stitching the welt.

   Whenever a customer brings in worn footwear, he soles it the same afternoon.

   Note

   A regular present-tense form, identical in spelling to the plural noun, so grammar decides which one is meant. A cobbler who soles boots is doing the work, while boots with worn soles are being described. A separate dialectal verb in the UK also means to haul or pull someone about by the ears. Away from that dialect, the shoemaking sense is the safe one.

3. 3
   SaySOH-laysUS/ˈsoʊleɪs/UK/ˈsəʊleɪs/

   noun

   Plural of sol. Used for the Peruvian currency.

   The vendor quoted the price in soles rather than dollars.

   A bottle of water costs only two soles at the corner store.

   Note

   A spelling collision with the plural of feet and fish. Here the singular is sol. The musical syllable, the fifth step of the scale, is uncountable, so this plural belongs to the countable senses. These are the Peruvian currency unit, the historical French and Spanish-American coins, and the solar day on Mars. A price quoted in soles is a price in Peruvian money, not shoe leather.

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