foxhole
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of foxhole
Explanation
A foxhole is a hole in the earth that's used by a soldier as a small fort. From the safety of a foxhole, troops are protected somewhat against enemy fire. While trenches and quick fortifications or dugouts have been used throughout military history, the term foxhole didn't emerge until the very end of World War I, around 1918. The first recorded use was in a US army report from that year, describing German soldiers building "a hole in the ground sufficient to give shelter...to one or two soldiers." The Old English origin is fox-hol, "a fox's den."
Vocabulary lists containing foxhole
"The Woman in the Snow" and "Rosa Parks"
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Boots on the Ground: America's War in Vietnam
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Cat's Cradle
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
They said they saw Hodniuk emerge from the foxhole unarmed with his hands up after Kurashov called for Ukrainians to come out of their foxholes and surrender.
From BBC • Nov. 6, 2025
Everyone in LA is in that foxhole now.
From Salon • Jan. 13, 2025
I’ve learned that he’d be really good in a foxhole.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 12, 2023
Combining the lidar data with on-site investigation can reveal insights ranging from a single soldier digging a foxhole to “the global narrative of World War II.”
From Science Magazine • Aug. 14, 2023
I’d learned what it was like to be pinned down in a foxhole for hours on end with nothing to chew on but your last C-rations.
From "Code Talker: A Novel About the Navajo Marines of World War Two" by Joseph Bruchac
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
