Wiktionary

foul

See also: Foul

English

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Alternative forms

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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Inherited from Middle English foul, from Old English fūl (“foul, dirty, unclean, impure, vile, corrupt, rotten, stinking, guilty”), from Proto-West Germanic *fūl, from Proto-Germanic *fūlaz (“foul, rotten”), from Proto-Indo-European *puH- (“to rot”).

Cognate with Dutch vuil (“foul, dirty, filthy, obscene, lewd”), German faul (“foul, rotten, putrid, lazy”), German Low German fuul (“foul, rotten, putrid”), Faroese fúlur (“foul”), Icelandic fúll (“foul, rotten, sullen”), Danish ful (“nasty, ugly”), Norwegian Bokmål ful (“clever, sly”), and Swedish ful (“ugly, dirty, bad”), and through Indo-European, with Albanian fëlliq (“to make dirty”), Latin puter (“rotten”). More at putrid.

Ancient Greek φαῦλος (phaûlos, “bad”) is a false cognate inasmuch as it is not from the same etymon, instead being cognate to few.

Adjective

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foul (comparative fouler, superlative foulest)

  1. Covered with, or containing unclean matter; dirty.
    This cloth is too foul to use as a duster.
    His foul hands got dirt all over the kitchen.
    The air was so foul nobody could breathe.
    A ship's bottom is foul when overgrown with barnacles
    A well is foul with polluted water.
    • 1944 November and December, A Former Pupil, “Some Memories of Crewe Works—II”, in Railway Magazine, page 342:
      It was, however, most interesting work, and the moulders themselves were a decent crowd, never tired of making jokes about themselves such as the hoary one that moulders did not live long, which however ran counter to the other one that no germs could live in a foundry—the atmosphere was too foul.
    • 2013 June 29, “Unspontaneous combustion”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 29:
      Since the mid-1980s, when Indonesia first began to clear its bountiful forests on an industrial scale in favour of lucrative palm-oil plantations, “haze” has become an almost annual occurrence in South-East Asia. The cheapest way to clear logged woodland is to burn it, producing an acrid cloud of foul white smoke that, carried by the wind, can cover hundreds, or even thousands, of square miles.
  2. (of words or a way of speaking) Obscene, vulgar or abusive.
    The rascal spewed forth a series of foul words.
    His foul language causes many people to believe he is uneducated.
  3. Detestable, unpleasant, loathsome.
    He has a foul set of friends.
    • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:
      […] Hast thou forgot / The foul witch Sycorax, who with age and envy / Was grown into a hoop? Hast thou forgot her?
    • 1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
      Who first seduced them to that foul revolt?
    • 1982 March 18, Eric J. Cassel[l], “The Nature of Suffering and the Goals of Medicine”, in The New England Journal of Medicine, volume 306, number 11, →DOI, page 642:
      Cultural norms and social rules regulate whether someone can be among others or will be isolated, whether the sick will be considered foul or acceptable, and whether they are to be pitied or censured.
  4. Disgusting, repulsive; causing disgust.
    This foul food is making me retch.
    There was a foul smell coming from the toilet.
  5. (obsolete) Ugly; homely; poor.
  6. Unpleasant, stormy or rainy. (of the weather)
    Some foul weather is brewing.
  7. Dishonest or not conforming to the established rules and customs of a game, conflict, test, etc.
    Foul play is not suspected.
  8. (nautical) Entangled and therefore restricting free movement, not clear.
    We've got a foul anchor.
    A rope could get foul while it is being paid out.
  9. (technical) (with "of") Positioned on, in, or near enough to (a specified area) so as to obstruct it.
    • 2015, Transportation Safety Board of Canada, Railway Investigation Report R13T0192[1]:
      The bus had stopped just foul of the north track at the Erindale Station Road public railway crossing […] With the bus stationary, but still foul of the north track, the train struck one of its front mirrors.
  10. (baseball) Outside of the base lines; in foul territory.
    Jones hit foul ball after foul ball.
Synonyms
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Derived terms
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Collocations
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with nouns
Translations
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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Etymology 2

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Inherited from Middle English foulen, fulen, from Old English fūlian (“to become foul; rot; decay”), from Proto-West Germanic *fūlēn, from Proto-Germanic *fūlāną (“to rot; decay”).

Verb

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foul (third-person singular simple present fouls, present participle fouling, simple past and past participle fouled)

  1. (transitive) To make dirty.
    Synonyms: befoul, dirty, besmirch
    to foul the face or hands with mire
    She's fouled her diaper.
  2. (transitive) To besmirch.
    He's fouled his reputation.
  3. (transitive, intransitive) To obstruct, block, or otherwise interfere with (something), for example by clogging (a drain, gun barrel, a chimney, etc) or by being in the way of (a gunshot, etc).
    The hair has fouled the drain.
    • 1961 November, “Talking of Trains: Aircraft on rail tracks”, in Trains Illustrated, page 650:
      As a result of the accident at Southend Airport when a Hermes aircraft overshot the runway and fouled the down Shenfield to Southend Victoria line between Rochford and Prittlewell, the Eastern Region is considering warning arrangements, which have already been provided on some lines running past aerodromes.
    • 2013, Miles Johannesburg, The Airgun Hunters Chronicles:
      Unbelievable. Nearly all shots were fouled by twigs or branches.
    • 2018 September 21, Martin Irons, Phalanx Against the Divine Wind: Protecting the Fast Carrier Task Force During World War 2, Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 217:
      Porterfield's 5" guns were of little use as their shots were fouled by the other task group warships down range.
    • 2020, Yoon Ha Lee, Phoenix Extravagant, start of chapter 21:
      “You were lucky the shot was fouled,” said a dispassionate voice.
  4. (transitive, nautical) To entangle.
    The kelp has fouled the prop.
    • 1941, Emily Carr, chapter 18, in Klee Wyck‎[2]:
      The Indian's heart was sore for his boat; it looked as if nothing could save her. She was drifting more slowly now, her propeller fouled in kelp.
  5. (transitive, basketball, soccer) To make contact with an opposing player in order to gain advantage.
    Smith fouled him hard.
    • 2011 January 8, Chris Bevan, “Arsenal 1 - 1 Leeds”, in BBC‎[3]:
      The Gunners dominated for long periods but, against the run of play, Denilson fouled Max Gradel and Robert Snodgrass put Leeds ahead from the spot.
  6. (intransitive, basketball, soccer) To commit a foul.
    Smith fouled within the first minute of the quarter.
    • 2009, Brandon Lang, Stanley Cohen, Beating the Odds: The Rise, Fall, and Resurrection of a Sports Handicapper, →ISBN:
      State begins fouling and UCLA misses a couple of front-end free throws on one-and-ones.
  7. (transitive, baseball) To hit outside of the baselines.
    Jones fouled the ball off the facing of the upper deck.
  8. (intransitive, baseball) To hit a ball outside of the baselines.
    Jones fouled for strike one.
  9. (intransitive) To become clogged.
    The drain fouled.
  10. (intransitive) To become entangled.
    The prop fouled on the kelp.
  11. To come into contact or collide with.
    • 1963 July, “News and Comment: The future of coal by rail”, in Modern Railways, page 5:
      The full capacity, however, requires a hopper of a size that takes the wagon body up to 11ft 11½in above rail level, which would foul many existing colliery screens.
Derived terms
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Translations
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Noun

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foul (plural fouls)

  1. (sports) A breach of the rules of a game, especially one involving inappropriate contact with an opposing player in order to gain an advantage; for example, tripping someone up in soccer, or contact of any kind in basketball.
    • 2011 December 10, Arindam Rej, “Norwich 4 - 2 Newcastle”, in BBC Sport‎[4]:
      A second Norwich goal in four minutes arrived after some dire Newcastle defending. Gosling gave the ball away with a sloppy back-pass, allowing Crofts to curl in a cross that the unmarked Morison powered in with a firm, 12-yard header.
      Gosling's plight worsened when he was soon shown a red card for a foul on Martin.
    • 2011, Charley Rosen, Crazy Basketball: A Life In and Out of Bounds, Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, →ISBN, page 216:
      Even though we were swept, we did outstat the Fast Breakers in one category: they had six technical fouls for the series (three for Bibby, two for Matthews, and one for Shouse), and we totaled nine (three each for Mannion and me, one each for Jose Slaughter, Lewis, and Lamp).
  2. (bowling) A (usually accidental) contact between a bowler and the lane before the bowler has released the ball.
  3. (baseball) A foul ball, a ball which has been hit outside of the base lines.
    Jones hit a foul up over the screen.
Derived terms
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Descendants
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  • → Cantonese: foul
  • → Polish: faul
  • → Romanian: fault
  • → Russian: фол (fol)
  • → Turkish: faul
Translations
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See also

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Further reading

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Anagrams

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Chinese

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Borrowed from English foul.

Pronunciation

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Verb

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foul

  1. (Hong Kong Cantonese, usually sports) to disqualify due to a foul (breach of rules of the game) or a violation
  2. (Hong Kong Cantonese, by extension) to eliminate
    被foul出局 [Hong Kong Cantonese]  ―  bei6 fau1 ceot1 guk6 [Jyutping]  ―  to be eliminated (in a competition, etc.)
  3. (Hong Kong Cantonese) to reject (an idea or a proposal)

Synonyms

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  • (to disqualify): DQ
  • (to reject): ban

References

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German

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Pronunciation

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Verb

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foul

  1. singular imperative of foulen
  2. (colloquial) first-person singular present of foulen

Middle English

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Etymology 1

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Borrowed from Old French fol.

Noun

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foul

  1. Alternative form of fole (“fool”)

Etymology 2

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Inherited from Old English fugol.

Noun

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foul

  1. Alternative form of fowel
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