subs. phr. (common).—A situation, property, or possession formerly occupied or enjoyed by a person who is dead and buried. WAITING FOR DEAD MEN’S SHOES = looking forward to inheritances.

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  1687.  CLEVELAND, Works. ‘To Mr. T. C.’

        And ’tis a General Shift that most men use,
But yet ’tis tedious waiting DEAD MEN SHOES.

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  1758.  A. MURPHY, The Upholsterer, Act i. I grant ye, ma’am, you have very good pretensions; but then it’s waiting for DEAD MEN’S SHOES.

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  1764.  WILKES [in P. FITZGERALD’S Life of] (1888), vol. I., p. 244. As they have no other relation but Miss Wilkes, I therefore suppose they will leave everything to her, independent of me. Yet this is, after all, waiting for DEAD MEN’S SHOES.

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  1876.  C. H. WALL, trans. Molière, II., 218. Death is not always ready to indulge the heir’s wishes and prayers, and we may starve while waiting for DEAD MEN’S SHOES.

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