Foley

//ˈfoʊli// name, noun, slang

name, noun, slang ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The creation of sound effects, and their addition to film and TV images. US, uncountable
  2. 2
    A foley artist. US, countable
  3. 3
    A Foley catheter. colloquial, countable, uncountable
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname from Irish. countable, uncountable
  2. 2
    A city in Baldwin County, Alabama, United States. countable, uncountable
  3. 3
    A city, the county seat of Benton County, Minnesota, United States. countable, uncountable
  4. 4
    A city in Lincoln County, Missouri, United States. countable, uncountable

Example

More examples

"Many of the sounds heard in nature documentaries are created by foley artists."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From the surname Foley, itself from Irish Ó Foghlú and Old Irish Ó Foghladha (“plunderer”). The meanings related to sound effects are named after sound effects pioneer Jack Foley.

Etymology 2

Reduced Anglicized form of Irish Ó Foghladha (“descendant of Foghlaidh”), a byname from foghlaí (“plunderer, pillager, marauder, robber”).

Related phrases

Foley IslandFoley Parkfoley sessionbenton countycounty seatfoley artistfoley cathetersound effect

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