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Foul

//faʊl// adj, noun, verb

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Covered with, or containing unclean matter; dirty.

    "This cloth is too foul to use as a duster."

  2. 2
    Obscene, vulgar or abusive.

    "The rascal spewed forth a series of foul words."

  3. 3
    Detestable, unpleasant, loathsome.

    "He has a foul set of friends."

  4. 4
    Disgusting, repulsive; causing disgust.

    "This foul food is making me retch."

  5. 5
    Ugly; homely; poor. obsolete

    "Let us, like merchants, show our foulest wares."

Show 5 more definitions
  1. 6
    Unpleasant, stormy or rainy. (of the weather)

    "Some foul weather is brewing."

  2. 7
    Dishonest or not conforming to the established rules and customs of a game, conflict, test, etc.

    "Foul play is not suspected."

  3. 8
    Entangled and therefore restricting free movement, not clear.

    "We've got a foul anchor."

  4. 9
    (with "of") Positioned on, in, or near enough to (a specified area) so as to obstruct it.

    "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."

  5. 10
    Outside of the base lines; in foul territory.

    "Jones hit foul ball after foul ball."

Adjective
  1. 1
    especially of a ship's lines etc wordnet
  2. 2
    disgustingly dirty; filled or smeared with offensive matter wordnet
  3. 3
    characterized by obscenity wordnet
  4. 4
    (of a baseball) not hit between the foul lines wordnet
  5. 5
    violating accepted standards or rules wordnet
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  1. 6
    offensively malodorous wordnet
  2. 7
    (of a manuscript) defaced with changes wordnet
  3. 8
    highly offensive; arousing aversion or disgust wordnet
Noun
  1. 1
    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.

    "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."

  2. 2
    an act that violates the rules of a sport wordnet
  3. 3
    A (usually accidental) contact between a bowler and the lane before the bowler has released the ball.
  4. 4
    A foul ball, a ball which has been hit outside of the base lines.

    "Jones hit a foul up over the screen."

Verb
  1. 1
    To make dirty. transitive

    "to foul the face or hands with mire"

  2. 2
    become soiled and dirty wordnet
  3. 3
    To besmirch. transitive

    "He's fouled his reputation."

  4. 4
    make unclean wordnet
  5. 5
    To obstruct, block, or otherwise interfere with (something), for example by clogging (a drain, gun barrel, chimney, etc) or by being in the way of (a gunshot, etc). intransitive, transitive

    "The hair has fouled the drain."

Show 13 more definitions
  1. 6
    spot, stain, or pollute wordnet
  2. 7
    To entangle. transitive

    "The kelp has fouled the prop."

  3. 8
    make impure wordnet
  4. 9
    To make contact with an opposing player in order to gain advantage. transitive

    "Smith fouled him hard."

  5. 10
    commit a foul; break the rules wordnet
  6. 11
    To commit a foul. intransitive

    "Smith fouled within the first minute of the quarter."

  7. 12
    hit a foul ball wordnet
  8. 13
    To hit outside of the baselines. transitive

    "Jones fouled the ball off the facing of the upper deck."

  9. 14
    become or cause to become obstructed wordnet
  10. 15
    To hit a ball outside of the baselines. intransitive

    "Jones fouled for strike one."

  11. 16
    To become clogged. intransitive

    "The drain fouled."

  12. 17
    To become entangled. intransitive

    "The prop fouled on the kelp."

  13. 18
    To come into contact or collide with.

    "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."

Etymology

Etymology 1

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.

Etymology 2

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”).

Etymology 3

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”).

See also for "foul"

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