Wiktionary
n. (context plurale tantum folklore English) Fairy-tale boots enabling the wearer to reach seven leagues at a stride.
Wikipedia
Seven-league boots are an element in European folklore. The boot allows the person wearing them to take strides of seven leagues per step, resulting in great speed. The boots are often presented by a magical character to the protagonist to aid in the completion of a significant task.
Mention of the legendary boots are found in:
- Germany – Sweetheart Roland, Adelbert von Chamisso's Peter Schlemiel, Goethe's Faust ( Mephistopheles uses them at the start of Part Two, Act Four ), Wilhelm Hauff's " Der Kleine Muck"
- France – Charles Perrault's - Hop o' My Thumb, Madame d'Aulnoy's The Bee and the Orange Tree
- Norway – Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe - Soria Moria Castle
- England – Jack the Giant Killer, John Masefield's The Midnight Folk, C.S. Lewis's The Pilgrim's Regress, The Light Fantastic, The Bartimaeus Trilogy, Jenny Nimmo's Midnight for Charlie Bone, Diana Wynne Jones' Howl's Moving Castle
- United States – Zane Grey's The Last of the Plainsmen, Ruth Chew's "What the Witch Left," Gail Carson Levine's " The Two Princesses of Bamarre," Mark Twain's "The Innocents Abroad," Roger Zelazny's "Bring Me the Head of Prince Charming," Clair Blank's " Beverly Gray at the World's Fair"
Usage examples of "seven-league boots".
I can also make you a pair of seven-league boots of your own if you give me your size.
It was shoemaker's thread, so it had to be for seven-league boots.
Instead of stalking down the rugged path we ascended, we chose one which was bedded knee-deep in loose ashes, and ploughed our way with prodigious strides that would almost have shamed the performance of him of the seven-league boots.
While he was still floundering around, I jumped over, unlaced his seven-league boots and plucked them off his feet.