Foul
Foul (foul) , noun
[See Fowl.]
A bird. [Obsolete] — Chaucer
Foul (foul) , adjective
[Old English foul, ful, Anglo-Saxon fūl; akin to Dutch vuil, German faul rotten, Old High German fūl, Icelandic fūl foul, fetid; Danish fuul, Swedish ful foul, Gothic fūls fetid, Lithuanian puti to be putrid, Latin putere to stink, be putrid, pus pus, Greek py`on pus, to cause to rot, Sanskrit pūy to stink. r82. Compare Defile to foul, File to foul, Filth, Pus, Putrid.]
1.
Covered with, or containing, extraneous matter which is injurious, noxious, offensive, or obstructive; filthy; dirty; not clean; polluted; nasty; defiled; as, a foul cloth; foul hands; a foul chimney; foul air; a ship's bottom is foul when overgrown with barnacles; a gun becomes foul from repeated firing; a well is foul with polluted water.
My face is foul with weeping.
2.
Scurrilous; obscene or profane; abusive; as, foul words; foul language.
3.
Hateful; detestable; shameful; odious; wretched.
The foul with Sycorax.
Who first seduced them to that foul revolt?
4.
Loathsome; disgusting; as, a foul disease.
5.
Ugly; homely; poor. [Obsolete] — Chaucer
Let us, like merchants, show our foulest wares.
6.
Not favorable; unpropitious; not fair or advantageous; as, a foul wind; a foul road; cloudy or rainy; stormy; not fair; -- said of the weather, sky, etc.
So foul a sky clears not without a storm.
7.
Not conformed to the established rules and customs of a game, conflict, test, etc.; unfair; dishonest; dishonorable; cheating; as, foul play.
8.
Having freedom of motion interfered with by collision or entanglement; entangled; -- opposed to clear; as, a rope or cable may get foul while paying it out.
Collocations (11)
Foul ball (Baseball) , a ball that first strikes the ground outside of the foul ball lines, or rolls outside of certain limits.
Foul ball lines (Baseball) , lines from the home base, through the first and third bases, to the boundary of the field.
Foul berth (Nautical) , a berth in which a ship is in danger of fouling another vesel.
Foul bill or Foul bill of health , a certificate, duly authenticated, that a ship has come from a place where a contagious disorder prevails, or that some of the crew are infected.
Foul copy , a rough draught, with erasures and corrections; -- opposed to fair or clean copy. Some writers boast of negligence, and others would be ashamed to show their foul copies.
Foul proof , an uncorrected proof; a proof containing an excessive quantity of errors.
Foul strike (Baseball) , a strike by the batsman when any part of his person is outside of the lines of his position.
To fall foul , to fall out; to quarrel. [Obsolete] If they be any ways offended, they fall foul.
To fall foul of or To run foul of , See under Fall.
To make foul water , to sail in such shallow water that the ship's keel stirs the mud at the bottom.
Foul , transitive verb
1.
To make filthy; to defile; to daub; to dirty; to soil; as, to foul the face or hands with mire.
2.
(Military) To incrust (the bore of a gun) with burnt powder in the process of firing.
3.
To cover (a ship's bottom) with anything that impered its sailing; as, a bottom fouled with barnacles.
4.
To entangle, so as to impede motion; as, to foul a rope or cable in paying it out; to come into collision with; as, one boat fouled the other in a race.
Foul , intransitive verb
1.
To become clogged with burnt powder in the process of firing, as a gun.
2.
To become entagled, as ropes; to come into collision with something; as, the two boats fouled.
Foul , noun
1.
An entanglement; a collision, as in a boat race.
2.
(Baseball) See Foul ball, under Foul, a.
3.
In various games or sports, an act done contrary to the rules; a foul stroke, hit, play, or the like.