Foul
foul (foul), n. (See Fowl.)A bird. (Obs.) Chaucer.
foul (foul), a.(Compar. Fouler (-er);
superl. Foulest.) (OE. foul,
ful, AS. ful; akin to D. vuil, G.
faul rotten, OHG. ful, Icel. ful
foul, fetid; Dan. fuul, Sw. ful foul, Goth.
fuls fetid, Lith. puti to be putrid, L.
putere to stink, be putrid, pus pus, Gr.
pyon pus, to cause to rot, Skr. puy to
stink. r82. Cf. Defile to foul, File to foul,
Filth, Pus, Putrid.) 1.
Covered with, or containing, extraneous matter which is
injurious, noxious, offensive, or obstructive; filthy; dirty; not
clean; polluted; nasty; defiled; as, a foul cloth; foul
hands; a foul chimney; foul air; a ships bottom is
foul when overgrown with barnacles; a gun becomes foul
from repeated firing; a well is foul with polluted
water.
My face is foul with weeping.
Job. xvi. 16.
2. Scurrilous; obscene or profane; abusive;
as, foul words; foul language.
3. Hateful; detestable; shameful; odious;
wretched. The foul with Sycorax. Shak.
Who first seduced them to that foul
revolt? Milton.
4. Loathsome; disgusting; as, a foul
disease.
5. Ugly; homely; poor. (Obs.)
Chaucer.
Let us, like merchants, show our foulest
wares. Shak.
6. Not favorable; unpropitious; not fair or
advantageous; as, a foul wind; a foul road; cloudy or
rainy; stormy; not fair; -- said of the weather, sky, etc.
So foul a sky clears not without a
storm. Shak.
7. Not conformed to the established rules and
customs of a game, conflict, test, etc.; unfair; dishonest;
dishonorable; cheating; as, foul play.
8. Having freedom of motion interfered with
by collision or entanglement; entangled; -- opposed to clear;
as, a rope or cable may get foul while paying it
out.
Foul anchor. (Naut.) See under
Anchor. -- Foul ball (Baseball),
a ball that first strikes the ground outside of the foul ball
lines, or rolls outside of certain limits. -- Foul ball
lines (Baseball), lines from the home base,
through the first and third bases, to the boundary of the field.
-- Foul berth (Naut.), a berth in which
a ship is in danger of fouling another vesel. -- Foul
bill, or Foul bill of health, a
certificate, duly authenticated, that a ship has come from a place
where a contagious disorder prevails, or that some of the crew are
infected. -- Foul copy, a rough draught,
with erasures and corrections; -- opposed to fair or clean
copy. Some writers boast of negligence, and others would be
ashamed to show their foul copies. Cowper. --
Foul proof, an uncorrected proof; a proof
containing an excessive quantity of errors. -- Foul
strike (Baseball), a strike by the batsman when
any part of his person is outside of the lines of his position.
-- To fall foul, to fall out; to quarrel.
(Obs.) If they be any ways offended, they fall foul.
Burton. -- To fall, or
run, foul of. See under
Fall. -- To make foul water, to
sail in such shallow water that the ships keel stirs the mud at the
bottom.
foul (?), v. t. (imp. p. pr. to defile;
to daub; to dirty; to soil; as, to foul the face or hands with
mire.
2. (Mil.) To incrust (the bore of a
gun) with burnt powder in the process of firing.
3. To cover (a ships bottom) with anything
that impered its sailing; as, a bottom fouled with
barnacles.
4. To entangle, so as to impede motion; as,
to foul a rope or cable in paying it out; to come into
collision with; as, one boat fouled the other in a
race.
foul , v. i. 1. Tobecome clogged with burnt powder in the process of firing, as a
gun.
2. To become entagled, as ropes; to come into
collision with something; as, the two boats fouled.
foul , n. 1. Anentanglement; a collision, as in a boat race.
2. (Baseball) See Foul ball,
under Foul, a.
foul , n. In various games orsports, an act done contrary to the rules; a foul stroke, hit, play,
or the like.
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