TO GIVE THE COBBLER’S KNOCK or TO KNOCK AT THE COBBLER’S DOOR, verbal phr. (provincial).—A sort of fancy sliding in which the artist raps the ice in triplets with one foot while progressing swiftly on the other.
1836. DICKENS, Pickwick Papers, vol. ii., ch. 2. Sam Weller, in particular was displaying that beautiful feat of fancy sliding which is currently called KNOCKING AT THE COBBLER’S DOOR, and which is achieved by skimming over the ice on one foot and occasionally giving a postman’s knock upon it with the other.
