From "The Spectator Bird" (1976) by Wallace Stegner, born in 1909 in the USA. I wish I could help, but I really don't know. My guess is when someone wants to click their heels because they're so happy. (The physical motion of jumping up and smacking your feet together.) That, or clapping one's feet together. Since boxing is a combat sport between two fighters, perhaps the writer found some creative way to describe one's own two feet beating against each other? Mr. Stegner sounds like he was using antiquated language to describe something, or made it up himself. I've never heard this sentence before in my life. Googling it certainly produces nothing more than the line from the book. I read a little bit of the book just prior to the line and afterward, and nothing indicated what he meant by that. It seems like if he was trying to find a new way to say "click my heels" (or something similar to that), so he came up with this on his own.

My grandmother used to use this phrase. Marlana's definition is correct as I have always understood it. It was meant to mean, clicking your heels or feet together with excitement or delight. I think it is an anachronism (a very old fashioned phrase), but it certainly isn't well documented! I didn't take the time to research where in the USA Stegner was from. Maybe it was a regional expression? My grandparents lived in Pennsylvania in the northeast of the U.S. My entire life has been spent in the northwest of the U.S. I've never heard the phrase in this area in the last 50 years! Wow, thanks for bringing back a memory!! :) @Marlana We're neighbors! I live in Stanwood, WA and work in Bellingham. :)

Hello! Looking at the context of the story I would agree with Marlana - it could possibly be the "clicking of heels" - something that Charlie Chaplain was famous for doing... I hope that helps!