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definitions

foul

[foul]
adjective, foul·er, foul·est.
  1. grossly offensive to the senses; disgustingly loathsome; noisome: a foul smell.
  2. containing or characterized by offensive or noisome matter: foul air; foul stagnant water.
  3. filthy or dirty, as places, receptacles, clothes, etc.
  4. muddy, as a road.
  5. clogged or obstructed with foreign matter: a foul gas jet.
  6. unfavorable or stormy: foul weather.
  7. contrary, violent, or unfavorable, as the wind.
  8. grossly offensive in a moral sense.
  9. abominable, wicked, or vile, as deeds, crime, slander, etc.
  10. scurrilous, profane, or obscene; offensive: foul language.
  11. contrary to the rules or established usages, as of a sport or game; unfair: a foul blow.
  12. Baseball. pertaining to a foul ball or a foul line.
  13. limited in freedom of movement by obstruction, entanglement, etc.: a foul anchor.
  14. abounding in errors or in marks of correction, as a printer's proof, manuscript, or the like.
  15. Nautical.
    1. (of the underwater portion of a hull) encrusted and impeded with barnacles, seaweed, etc.
    2. (of a mooring place) involving inconveniences and dangers, as of colliding with vessels or other objects when swinging with the tide.
    3. (of the bottom of a body of water) affording a poor hold for an anchor (opposed to clean).
  16. North England and Scot.. not fair; ugly or unattractive.
  17. Obsolete. disfigured.
adverb
  1. in a foul manner; vilely; unfairly.
  2. Baseball. into foul territory; so as to be foul: It looked like a homer when he hit it, but it went foul.
noun
  1. something that is foul.
  2. a collision or entanglement: a foul between two racing sculls.
  3. a violation of the rules of a sport or game: The referee called it a foul.
  4. Baseball. foul ball.
verb (used with object)
  1. to make foul; defile; soil.
  2. to clog or obstruct, as a chimney or the bore of a gun.
  3. to collide with.
  4. to cause to become entangled or caught, as a rope.
  5. to defile; dishonor; disgrace: His reputation had been fouled by unfounded accusations.
  6. Nautical. (of barnacles, seaweed, etc.) to cling to (a hull) so as to encumber.
  7. Baseball. to hit (a pitched ball) foul (often followed by off or away): He fouled off two curves before being struck out on a fastball.
verb (used without object)
  1. to become foul.
  2. Nautical. to come into collision, as two boats.
  3. to become entangled or clogged: The rope fouled.
  4. Sports. to make a foul play; give a foul blow.
  5. Baseball. to hit a foul ball.
Verb Phrases
  1. foul out,
    1. Baseball.to be put out by hitting a foul ball caught on the fly by a player on the opposing team.
    2. Basketball.to be expelled from a game for having committed more fouls than is allowed.
  2. foul up, Informal. to cause confusion or disorder; bungle; spoil.
Idioms
  1. fall foul/afoul of,
    1. to collide with, as ships.
    2. to come into conflict with; quarrel.
    3. to make an attack; assault.
  2. foul one's nest, to dishonor one's own home, family, or the like.
  3. run foul/afoul of, to come into collision or controversy with: to run foul of the press.

Origin of foul

before 900; (adj. and noun) Middle English ful, foul, Old English fūl; cognate with Gothic fuls, Old Norse fūll, Old High German fūl; akin to Latin pūs pus, pūtēre to stink, Greek pýon pus; (adv.) Middle English fule, foule, derivative of the adj.; (v.) Middle English fulen, derivative of the adj.
Related formsfoul·ly, adverbo·ver·foul, adjectiveo·ver·foul·ly, adverbo·ver·foul·ness, nounun·foul, adjectiveun·foul·ly, adverbun·fouled, adjective
Can be confusedfoul fowl

Synonyms for foul

1. repulsive, repellent. 2. fetid, putrid, stinking. 3. unclean, polluted, sullied, soiled, stained, tainted, impure. 6. rainy, tempestuous. 7. adverse. 9. base, shameful, infamous. 10. smutty, vulgar, coarse, low. 24. sully, stain, dirty, besmirch, taint, pollute. 28. shame.

Synonym study

3. See dirty.

Antonyms for foul

1. pleasant. 3, 24. clean. 5, 6. clear.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for fouled

putrid, vile, horrid, vicious, fetid, rotten, hateful, nasty, filthy, wicked, abusive, dirty, violation, offense, breach, infringement, error, clog, pollute, choke

Examples from the Web for fouled

Contemporary Examples of fouled

Historical Examples of fouled

  • It was the dead man's sacret too, and she's fouled the ould man's memory.

    The Manxman

    Hall Caine

  • He let two wide ones pass, and fouled when a bender cut a corner.

  • Certainly, five men at least were living before we fouled the ice.

    The Frozen Pirate

    W. Clark Russell

  • Or if the ice on which she floated, fouled some other berg it might cost us all our spars.

    The Frozen Pirate

    W. Clark Russell

  • Something had fouled her, and she had failed, for Corinne swept by at that moment.

    A Little Miss Nobody

    Amy Bell Marlowe

British Dictionary definitions for fouled

foul

adjective
  1. offensive to the senses; revolting
  2. offensive in odour; stinking
  3. charged with or full of dirt or offensive matter; filthy
  4. (of food) putrid; rotten
  5. morally or spiritually offensive; wicked; vile
  6. obscene; vulgarfoul language
  7. not in accordance with accepted standards or established rules; unfairto resort to foul means
  8. (esp of weather) unpleasant or adverse
  9. blocked or obstructed with dirt or foreign mattera foul drain
  10. entangled or impededa foul anchor
  11. (of the bottom of a vessel) covered with barnacles and other growth that slow forward motion
  12. informal unsatisfactory or uninteresting; bada foul book
  13. archaic ugly
noun
  1. sport
    1. a violation of the rules
    2. (as modifier)a foul shot; a foul blow
  2. something foul
  3. an entanglement or collision, esp in sailing or fishing
verb
  1. to make or become dirty or polluted
  2. to become or cause to become entangled or snarled
  3. (tr) to disgrace or dishonour
  4. to become or cause to become clogged or choked
  5. (tr) nautical (of underwater growth) to cling to (the bottom of a vessel) so as to slow its motion
  6. (tr) sport to commit a foul against (an opponent)
  7. (tr) baseball to hit (a ball) in an illegal manner
  8. (intr) sport to infringe the rules
  9. (tr) (of an animal, especially a dog) to defecate ondo not let your dog foul the footpath
  10. to collide with (a boat, etc)
adverb
  1. in a foul or unfair manner
  2. fall foul of
    1. to come into conflict with
    2. nauticalto come into collision with
See also foul up
Derived Formsfoully, adverb

Word Origin for foul

Old English fūl; related to Old Norse fūll, Gothic fūls smelling offensively, Latin pūs pus, Greek puol pus
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for fouled

foul

adj.

Old English ful "rotten, unclean, vile, corrupt, offensive to the senses," from Proto-Germanic *fulaz (cf. Old Saxon and Old Frisian ful, Middle Dutch voul, Dutch vuil, Old High German fül, German faul, Gothic füls), from root *fu-, corresponding to PIE *pu-, perhaps from the sound made in reaction to smelling something bad (cf. Sanskrit puyati "rots, stinks," putih "foul, rotten;" Greek puon "discharge from a sore;" Latin pus "putrid matter," putere "to stink," putridus "rotten;" Lithuanian puviu "to rot").

Old English ful occasionally meant "ugly" (as contrasted with fæger (adj.), modern fair (adj.)), a sense frequently found in Middle English, and the cognate in Swedish is the usual word for "ugly." Of weather, first recorded late 14c. In the sporting sense of "irregular, unfair" it is first attested 1797, though foul play is recorded from mid-15c. Baseball sense of "out of play" attested by 1860. Foulmart was a Middle English word for "polecat" (from Old English mearð "marten").

foul

v.

Old English fulian "to become foul, rot," from ful (see foul (adj.)). Related: Fouled; fouling.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Idioms and Phrases with fouled

foul

In addition to the idioms beginning with foul

  • foul one's nest
  • foul play
  • foul up

also see:

  • run afoul of
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.