sourced by JMJF
Once again, we go back to the period when court life dictated that males and females dress grandly. This was especially true of the noblemen and women who frequented places to be seen. Noblemen and their followers took pride in wearing clothes with elaborate ruffles, satin breeches, powdered wigs for their hair, and even hosiery for their legs. The men back then were quite vain about their legs – unlike today! – and even reached a point of indentifying which of their two legs was the better or handsomer one! Naturally, during social events, such a grandee would display his better looking leg – properly dressed up, of course – for all to see and admire. He would then be described as having PUT HIS BEST FOOT FORWARD.
On a more mundane note, the expression has come to describe anyone trying to make a favorable impression by doing his best in a particular task or situation.
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