Foss

//fɒs// name, noun

name, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Initialism of Free and Open Source Software. abbreviation, alt-of, initialism, uncountable
  2. 2
    Alternative spelling of fosse. alt-of, alternative
  3. 3
    A waterfall. Northern-England

    "Another of his flock was spotted garrotted, one found twisted and drowned at the bottom of a foss and a third split cleanly from scut to teeth."

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname.
  2. 2
    A town in Washita County, Oklahoma.
  3. 3
    An unincorporated community in Tillamook County, Oregon, United States.

Synonyms

All synonyms
waterfall

Example

More examples

"Another of his flock was spotted garrotted, one found twisted and drowned at the bottom of a foss and a third split cleanly from scut to teeth."

Etymology

Etymology 1

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Etymology 2

From Icelandic or Norwegian foss, both from Old Norse fors (“waterfall”). Doublet of force (“waterfall”).

Etymology 3

Meaning "fox". From Old Saxon fohs, fuhs, from Proto-West Germanic *fuhs, from Proto-Germanic *fuhsaz.

Related phrases

free softwareopen source

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.