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• foot
  foot

  noun

  (in vertebrates) the terminal part of the leg, below the ankle joint, on which the body stands and moves.
• Foot
  Foot

  noun

  Michael ( Mackintosh ). 1913–2010, British Labour politician and journalist; secretary of state for employment (1974–76); leader of the House of Commons (1976–79); leader of the Labour Party (1980–83)

foot

American  

[foot] / fʊt /

noun

• feet,
  plural
• foots
  plural

1. (in vertebrates) the terminal part of the leg, below the ankle joint, on which the body stands and moves.

2. (in invertebrates) any part similar in position or function.

3. such a part considered as the organ of locomotion.

4. a unit of length, originally derived from the length of the human foot. It is divided into 12 inches and equal to 30.48 centimeters. ft., f.

5. foot soldiers; infantry.

6. walking or running motion; pace.

   swift of foot.

7. quality or character of movement or motion; tread; step.

8. any part or thing resembling a foot, as in function, placement, shape, etc.

9. Furniture.

   1. a shaped or ornamented feature terminating a leg at its lower part.

   2. any of several short legs supporting a central shaft, as of a pedestal table.

10. a rim, flange, or flaring part, often distinctively treated, serving as a base for a table furnishing or utensil, as a glass, teapot, or candlestick.

11. the part of a stocking, sock, etc., covering the foot.

12. the lowest part, or bottom, of anything, as of a hill, ladder, page, etc.

13. a supporting part; base.

14. the part of anything opposite the top or head.

    He waited patiently at the foot of the checkout line.

15. the end of a bed, grave, etc., toward which the feet are placed.

    Put the blanket at the foot of the bed, please.

16. Printing. the part of the type body that forms the sides of the groove, at the base.

17. the last, as of a series.

18. that which is written at the bottom, as the total of an account.

19. Prosody. a group of syllables constituting a metrical unit of a verse.

20. Usually foots

    1. sediment or dregs.

    2. footlight.

21. Nautical. the lower edge of a sail.

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verb (used without object)

• foots,
  present (3rd person singular)
• footed,
  past participle,  past
• footing
  present participle

1. to walk; go on foot (often followed byit ).

   We'll have to foot it.

2. to move the feet rhythmically, as to music or in dance (often followed byit ).

3. (of vessels) to move forward; sail.

   to foot briskly across the open water.

verb (used with object)

• foots,
  present (3rd person singular)
• footed,
  past participle,  past
• footing
  present participle

1. to walk or dance on.

   footing the cobblestones of the old city.

2. to perform (a dance).

   cavaliers footing a galliard.

3. to traverse on or as if on foot.

4. to make or attach a foot to.

   to foot a stocking.

5. to pay or settle.

   I always end up footing the bill.

6. to add (a column of figures) and set the sum at the foot (often followed byup ).

7. to seize with talons, as a hawk.

8. to establish.

9. Archaic. to kick, especially to kick away.

10. Obsolete. to set foot on.

idioms

1. get off on the right / wrong foot, to begin favorably or unfavorably.

   He got off on the wrong foot with a tactless remark about his audience.

2. put one's foot down, to take a firm stand; be decisive or determined.

3. on foot, by walking or running, rather than by riding.

4. under foot, in the way.

   That cat is always under foot when I'm getting dinner.

5. have one foot in the grave. grave.

6. put one's best foot forward,

   1. to attempt to make as good an impression as possible.

   2. to proceed with all possible haste; hurry.

7. set foot in / on, to go on or into; enter: Also step foot inon

   Don't set foot in this office again!

8. get / have / a / one's foot in the door, to succeed in achieving an initial stage or step.

9. put one's foot in / into it, to make an embarrassing blunder. Also put one's foot ininto one's mouth

Foot ¹ British  

/ fʊt /

noun

1. Michael ( Mackintosh ). 1913–2010, British Labour politician and journalist; secretary of state for employment (1974–76); leader of the House of Commons (1976–79); leader of the Labour Party (1980–83)

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foot ² British  

/ fʊt /

noun

1. the part of the vertebrate leg below the ankle joint that is in contact with the ground during standing and walking

2. the part of a garment that covers a foot

3. any of various organs of locomotion or attachment in invertebrates, including molluscs

4. botany the lower part of some plant structures, as of a developing moss sporophyte embedded in the parental tissue

5. 1.  ft.  a unit of length equal to one third of a yard or 12 inches. 1 Imperial foot is equivalent to 0.3048 metre

   2. any of various units of length used at different times and places, typically about 10 per cent greater than the Imperial foot

6. any part resembling a foot in form or function

   the foot of a chair

7. the lower part of something; base; bottom

   the foot of the page

   the foot of a hill

8. the end of a series or group

   the foot of the list

9. manner of walking or moving; tread; step

   a heavy foot

10. 1. infantry, esp in the British army

    2. ( as modifier )

       a foot soldier

11. any of various attachments on a sewing machine that hold the fabric in position, such as a presser foot for ordinary sewing and a zipper foot

12. music

    1. a unit used in classifying organ pipes according to their pitch, in terms of the length of an equivalent column of air

    2. this unit applied to stops and registers on other instruments

13. printing

    1. the margin at the bottom of a page

    2. the undersurface of a piece of type

14. prosody a group of two or more syllables in which one syllable has the major stress, forming the basic unit of poetic rhythm

15. an action, appointment, etc, that provides an initial step towards a desired goal, esp one that is not easily attainable

16. to be of the opposite religion to that which is regarded as acceptable or to that of the person who is speaking

17. an expression of disbelief, often of the speaker's own preceding statement

    he didn't know, my foot! Of course he did!

18. archaic in manner of movement

    fleet of foot

19. 1. walking or running

    2. in progress; astir; afoot

20. informal near to death

21. informal in an auspicious manner

22. informal in an inauspicious manner

23. to make a mistake

24. 1. to try to do one's best

    2. to hurry

25. informal

    1. to act firmly

    2. to increase speed (in a motor vehicle) by pressing down on the accelerator

26. informal to blunder

27. to initiate or start (something)

28. to oppress

29. on the ground; beneath one's feet

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verb

1. to dance to music (esp in the phrase foot it )

2. (tr) to walk over or set foot on; traverse (esp in the phrase foot it )

3. (tr) to pay the entire cost of (esp in the phrase foot the bill )

4. archaic (usually foll by up) to add up

foot Scientific  

/ ft /

• feet
  plural

1. A unit of length in the US Customary System equal to 1/3 of a yard or 12 inches (30.48 centimeters).

2. See Table at measurement

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foot More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing foot

• bound hand and foot
• caught flat-footed
• feet
• get off on the wrong foot
• not touch with a ten-foot pole
• on foot
• on the right foot
• one foot in the grave
• play footsie
• put one's best foot forward
• put one's foot down
• put one's foot in it
• set foot
• shoe is on the other foot
• shoot oneself in the foot
• wait on hand and foot

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Usage

In front of another noun, the plural for the unit of length is foot: a 20-foot putt; his 70-foot ketch. Foot can also be used instead of feet when mentioning a quantity and in front of words like tall: four foot of snow; he is at least six foot tall

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• footless
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• feet
  plural
• foots
  plural

Participles

• footing
  present
• footed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• foot
  simple
• foots
  simple
• have footed
  perfect
• has footed
  perfect
• am footing
  progressive
• are footing
  progressive
• is footing
  progressive
• have been footing
  perfect progressive
• has been footing
  perfect progressive

Past

• footed
  simple
• had footed
  perfect
• was footing
  progressive
• were footing
  progressive
• had been footing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will foot
  simple
• will have footed
  perfect
• will be footing
  progressive
• will have been footing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of foot

before 900; Middle English; Old English fōt; cognate with German Fuss; akin to Latin pēs (stem ped- ), Greek poús (stem pod- )

Explanation

Your foot is like your leg's hand, and a foot is twelve inches. When you walk, you go by foot. Since feet are so important, the word foot has many meanings. The main one is that thing below your ankle — people have feet, and so do many animals. The lower part of a bed is the foot of the bed — the foot of a mountain is also where you would expect it. The lower part of anything could be called a foot. Paying for something is footing the bill, and footing up a column of numbers is adding them up.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

foot Foot feet foots footed footing

That means it is unlikely more than a few will ever set foot in mainland Europe.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026

Where had this man gotten the impression that I enjoyed dancing, my nervous foot swinging under the table?

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026

A 2019 survey of selected cities found that 63% of all journeys were made on foot, making pedestrians the single largest group of road users.

From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026

Last week, Chipotle said fears over the cyclospora outbreak had slowed foot traffic, but it raised its sales forecast for the year nonetheless.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 6, 2026

As soon as Torak set foot on the trail, the cold grew intense.

From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver

Fricker won the Oscar for best supporting actress in 1990 for playing Daniel Day-Lewis's on-screen mother in My Left Foot.

From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026

Rodgers was previously chief operations officer at Foot Locker.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 15, 2026

My wife and I enjoyed a gel manicure and the signature Luxury Foot Retreat pedicure, complete with warm neck wraps and beverages.

From Salon ● Jun. 11, 2026

Dadhania explained that while this partially represents the fact that Nike products account for about 60% of Foot Locker’s total revenue, “lower quality inventory and/or softer sell through rates” may also be to blame.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 10, 2026

It’s the same crew of hornets and surftards that hang out at The Spot, minus the older guys like Fry and Zephyr and Big Foot, who’re probably downstairs.

From "I'll Give You the Sun" by Jandy Nelson

Her ranch, about 130 miles northeast of Higdon’s spread, sits at 10,000 feet above sea level, ideal for yaks who thrive in the state’s cool, alpine climate.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2026

In 2011 the Tōhoku earthquake carried Japan’s main island roughly 8 feet to the east in minutes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026

Chairs had been knocked over and an overturned television lay at her feet.

From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026

In March 2022, a rocket slammed into the moon, creating a double crater about 95 feet wide.

From Salon ● Aug. 6, 2026

I sit on the steps a few feet away while he gets a bucket full of gardening tools and starts working.

From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold

Levon White, a third-grader in Newman Lake, Wash., said he orders sushi once a month when he visits his best friend’s grandmother, who happily foots the bill.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 2, 2026

Lyle Foster has a pop from the edge of the box and a deflection almost wrong foots Ivo Grbic in the Sheffield United net but he manages to save.

From BBC ● Apr. 19, 2024

And unless the court stipulates otherwise, the party who requests the testimony foots the bill.

From Salon ● Oct. 4, 2022

The government now foots the bill for any Singaporean citizen, permanent resident and holder of a long-term work pass who is sick with COVID-19, unless they tested positive shortly after returning from overseas.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 8, 2021

In South Carol-liney, if there was some nice smooth water like this big pond, folks would jus’ willy-nilly pull their shoes off and dip their foots in the water, then go home.

From "The Journey of Little Charlie" by Christopher Paul Curtis

Genuinely two footed, over the past two Premier League campaigns he has had 103 shots with his left foot and 95 with his right, and played equal minutes across both wings.

From BBC ● Jun. 23, 2026

One original capped with white chocolate and footed with dark.

From Salon ● Feb. 5, 2026

Many companies footed the bill for U.S. tariffs initially, in an effort to keep prices competitive.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2025

Over that period, South Korea footed about 30% of the total annual costs, in addition to providing indirect financial support such as waived taxes or foregone rents.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2025

La Llorona removed the lids from the footed pie dishes, picked two of them up, and pointed to the others for me.

From "Summer of the Mariposas" by Guadalupe García McCall

They take the olive groves and the goats and the summer houses, and they take the makeshift shelters and the fragile new footing of people who had already lost everything once.

From Salon ● Aug. 5, 2026

He said the change would "lower the cost of travel at a critical time for teenagers, whether they're pursuing further education, vocational pathways or getting their footing in the jobs market".

From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2026

US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, speaking alongside Trump, said the project would cost $22.5 billion, with United Airlines -- for which the airport is a major hub -- footing part of the bill.

From Barron's ● Jul. 29, 2026

Kidlike company off-sites are gaining traction because they reduce the odds of bad behavior and put everyone on equal footing.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026

Someone knocks into him and he almost loses his footing.

From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman