fouln.
/faʊl/, U.S. /faʊl/ I. That which is foul; a foul thing.† 3. Scottish. The Devil. Chiefly in imprecations, exclamations, curses, and intensifying phrases (cf. devil n. Phrases 1). Obsolete.
1.
a. That which is foul (in various senses); foulness. In later use usually with the, typically opposed to the fair (cf. fair n.1 2a).foul befall, foul fall: see foul adv. 4.In quot. OE2 in partitive genitive singular as postmodifier.
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the mind > goodness and badness > inferiority or baseness > foulness or filth > foul thing > [noun]
fouleOE
dung?c1225
carrion?1529
feculence1662
nastiness1831
muck1882
stinking fish1935
grunge1965
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > dirtiness > [noun] > that which is
foulc1425
eOE Rubrics & Direct. for Use of Forms of Service (Durh.) in A. H. Thompson & U. Lindelöf Rituale Ecclesiae Dunelmensis (1927) 116 [Ðis mon] scal reda ofer ða feta ðe ful in falleð.
OE Cynewulf Elene 768 Þæs he in ermðum sceal, ealra fula ful, fah þrowian þeowned þolian.
OE Ælfric Old Test. Summary: Judges (Laud) xiii. 4 in S. J. Crawford Old Eng. Version of Heptateuch (1922) 410 Ne he ealu ne drince næfre.., ne naht fules ne ðicge.
c1275 (?c1250) Owl & Nightingale (Calig.) (1935) l. 301 Þat wit þe fule haueþ imene, Ne cumeþ he neuer from him cleme [a1300 Jesus Oxf. clene].
c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) i. l. 1813 (MED) Ȝif ouȝt be mysse, þei can it close and hide, For al þe foule schal couertly be wried.
a1500 (c1477) T. Norton Ordinal of Alchemy (BL Add.) (1975) l. 1279 (MED) Fowle & clene bi naturalle lawe Haue grete discorde.
1603 H. Holland Pancharis sig. D2 What appetite the foule hath to the faire Is euident, for euery seely soule Knowes with perfection how things long to paire.
a1798 J. Wilson Wks. (1804) I. iii. 121 The mind..sees and feels the soft and the harsh, the agreeable and the disagreeable, the foul and the fair.
1893 Leeds Mercury 22 June 6/4 No sense of the difference between the false and the true, the fair and the foul.
2011 Globe & Mail (Toronto) (Nexis) 15 Jan. r5 Her delivery is playful and her language often profane, as if you can only get to a point of transcendence by bringing the fair and the foul together.
b. Ugly people, esp. women considered unattractive, as a class. Usually with the, typically opposed to the fair (cf. fair n.1 3a). Cf. foul adj. 7a. Now rare.the ugly is more usual from at least the 18th century onwards.
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a1450 (c1410) Dives & Pauper (Douce 295) ix. viii. f. 202 Go to þe cherche ȝerde, and þou shalt not knowyn be þe bodyis, þe riche from the pore, the faire from the foule.
1580 T. Lupton Siuqila (new ed.) 60 When they go abroade, their faces are so couered, and all their whole bodies..: so that both faire and foule, beautifull and vnbeautifull, go so all alike that none can knowe the faire from the foule.
1602 N. Breton Poste with Madde Packet Lett. I. sig. E The fowle laugh at the faire to see how they are troubled.
1772 tr. C. F. Badini Il Carnovale di Venezia ii. vii. 55 I raise sighs amongst the fair and the foul—Yes, women of all casts and complexions have a design on my carcase.
2006 Ambit 183 17 I have been adored by the foul and the beautiful, ignored by imbeciles, luminaries and academics.
2. † b. An unhealthy state of the skin and body occurring in overfed and under-exercised working dogs. Obsolete. rare.
a. More fully foul in the foot. Disease affecting the feet of cattle, leading to lameness; spec. that caused by infection with the bacterium Fusobacterium necrophorus (cf. necrobacillosis n.). Formerly also in plural.Occasionally used for the same infection occurring in the feet of sheep.Cf. file n.2 6b.
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the world > health and disease > ill health > animal disease or disorder > disorders of cattle, horse, or sheep > [noun] > disorders of cattle or sheep > other disorders
shotc1500
foul?1523
redwater1594
blacklega1722
garget1725
dunt1784
black water1800
cothe1800
fardel-bound1825
navel ill1834
bluetongue1867
heartwater1880
orf1890
tick-borne fever1921
strike1932
?1523 J. Fitzherbert Bk. Husbandry f. xxviii There be beestes that woll haue the foule, and that is bytwene the clese. Somtyme before and somtyme behynde, and it woll swell and cause hym to halt.
1614 G. Markham Cheape & Good Husbandry i. xxiii. 56 That disease which is called the Foule, and commeth most commonly by treading in mans ordure, breeding a sorenes and swelling betweene the cleyes.
1771 T. Comber Let. 31 Dec. in Real Improvem. Agric. (1772) 38 How many other Distempers injure their Milking, viz. Felon, Foul in the Foot, Hurt on the Eyes, Red-water, &c.
1810 Ann. Reg. 629 I have had them disordered in the feet with the fouls, but not the foot-rot.
1902 J. Biggle Biggle Sheep Bk. 107 Keep sheep with fouls away from wet pastures or stagnant water.
1981 F. Manolson & A. Fraser in K. Thear & A. Fraser Compl. Bk. Livestock & Poultry (1988) vii. 192/2 Foot rot, or foul in the foot, is caused by a fungus-like infection from the soil which develops in small wounds and cracks in the soft skin between the claws of the feet.
2005 Sc. Farmer 14 May 10/2 (advt.) High cure rates in Foul in the Foot, Cattle Pneumonia and Metritis.
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the world > health and disease > ill health > animal disease or disorder > disorders of dogs > [noun]
formicac1400
running woodnessa1425
founder1547
distemper1746
blotch1824
kennel lameness1841
foul1854
dog ill1874
salmon disease1880
piblokto1894
strongyloidiasis1907
strongyloidosis1907
salmon poisoning1925
hard-pad1948
Rubarth's disease1951
canine parvovirus1972
parvovirus1979
1854 E. Mayhew Dogs 114 ‘Foul’ is not one disease, but an accumulation of disorders brought on by the absence of exercise with a stimulating diet.
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a1779 D. Graham Coll. Writings (1883) II. 228 Fule haet ye'll do for naething here.
1788 E. Picken Poems & Epist. 81 O' a' the Nine, the foul a ane [= devil a one] Inspiris like thee.
1847 National Songster 230 Ye've lost for aye your bonny Jean, And foul may care, ye might ha'e won her.
a1869 C. Spence Poems (1898) 34 Feuch, foul may care! she prig nay mair.
II. An act or instance of fouling.
4. A collision between two boats; (more generally) an instance of any two objects colliding or becoming entangled. In early use chiefly in the context of rowing races, often difficult to distinguish from and rapidly merging into sense 5(a).
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society > travel > travel by water > action or motion of vessel > [noun] > colliding with something
foul1841
fouling1860
1841 Era 4 July 9/4 The grand contest on the second day, we regret to say, resulted in a ‘foul’.
1845 Morning Post 25 July 6/1 In the middle of a close race for the diamond sculls, a foul occurred between them.
1867 F. Francis Bk. Angling v. 125 The drop will fall over the stretcher, and a foul will be the consequence.
1912 Forest & Stream 20 July 83/1 The dispute over a foul between Irolita and Elena at the start of Wednesday's race off Swan's Island was settled.
2010 Western Mail (Nexis) 1 Nov. (Features section) 18 Some platforms are built on a curve, and the clearance needed on straight platforms, might cause a foul between vehicle and platform on a curve.
5. Sport. An infringement of the rules of a game or event; spec. (a) an act of unfairly interfering with an opponent during a game or race; (b) a foul hit, stroke, blow, etc. Cf. foul adj. 19a, foul v.1 8.It is unclear when the use of foul in rowing contexts came to be understood as referring primarily to an infringement of the rules by the boat at fault in a collision, rather than to the collision itself; some earlier examples of sense 4 may already have been understood in this way.
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society > leisure > sport > types of play, actions, or postures > [noun] > foul play
foul play1553
foul1849
hippodroming1864
fouling1866
roughing1866
misplay1867
obstruction1923
sandbagging1940
no-throw1959
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > billiards, pool, or snooker > [noun] > actions or types of play > foul or mishit
miscue1838
miss1844
foul1873
scratch1913
miscueing1915
1849 Times 17 Dec. 3/6 If they come into contact by the leading boat's departing from the water so taken, the leading boat shall be deemed to have committed a foul.
1873 J. Bennett & ‘Cavendish’ Billiards 480 The player who made the foul must follow suit.
1889 Sportsman 10 Apr. 7/1 Britton claimed the fight on a foul, but the referee disallowed the claim.
1915 C. Mathewson Catcher Craig xiv. 176 Then came a foul and a second strike. Porter wasted one then and the score was two and two.
1917 Girls & Athletics 21 The halfback in whose territory the foul occurred should take the free hit quickly, before her teammates may be guarded.
1974 Washington Post 1 Apr. d1/5 When he picked up his fifth foul, Hayes had 16 points.
2020 Watford Observer (Nexis) 12 Jan. Deeney picks up a silly yellow card for a deliberate foul on Harry Wilson midway inside his own half.
Phrases
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the mind > language > statement > negation > [adverb] > no > certainly not
for nothinglOE
not (to do something) for the worlda1375
for foul or fairc1405
not for a moment1785
not on your life1791
not for Joe (Joseph)1844
no siree1845
not much1871
a thousand times, no1896
not on your tintype1900
not for all the tea in China1937
c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Man of Law's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 427 But what she was, she wolde no man seye For foul ne fair.
a1425 (?a1400) G. Chaucer Romaunt Rose (Hunterian) (1891) l. 4072 If ony man shal more repeire Into this gardyne for foule or faire.
c1450 (?c1408) J. Lydgate Reson & Sensuallyte (1901) l. 2858 Angwyssh, sorowe, and hevynesse, Pensyfhede, nor tristesse May nat ther, for foul nor fair, Soiourne ther nor ha repair.
P2. frost and fraud both end in foul: see frost n. Phrases 3.
Compounds
C1. With past participles, forming adjectives describing a sports game which is full of fouls, typically with the implication that the constant fouling has made the game less entertaining for spectators, as in foul-marred, foul-plagued, foul-ridden, etc.
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1930 Charleston (W. Va.) Gaz. 25 June 8/3 Stirred by an epidemic of foul-marred bouts.., sportsmen interested in the good of the game have agreed to take steps to attempt to remedy the evil.
1960 Daily Tel. 2 Nov. 9/1 At the end of an unpleasant, foul-ruined game, the Football League's representatives were booed and whistled off the field.
1995 Times 19 Jan. 44/4 A niggly, foul-riddled FA Cup third-round replay, littered with six bookings and two sendings-off, had cried out for a touch of class.
2008 Chicago Tribune 14 Mar. (Midwest Final ed.) iv. 4/3 When the postseason began..that player was a 7-foot-2-inch seat warmer... Hibbert..went scoreless in 14 foul-plagued minutes.
2021 Montana Standard (Nexis) 17 Jan. (headline) Butte boys basketball wins with patience in foul-ridden game against Flathead.
C2.
foul ground n. Baseball and Softball the part of the playing surface outside the foul lines; cf. foul territory n.
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1875 Forest & Stream 4 Mar. 60/1 The most important [changes to the rules] are those throwing the home base and striker's position back so as to leave the home base on foul ground.
1969 V. Bartlett Past of Pastimes iv. 46 The ball..must be hit inside an arc of ninety degrees—if it goes more to the right or left, it falls on ‘foul ground’ and does not permit the batter to run to first base.
2019 Chicago Daily Herald (Southern Web ed.) (Nexis) 16 Aug. Craport's throw across to first base was late, and the ball skidded away from Taylor Bryant into foul ground for an error, allowing Moesquit to score.
foul lane n. Basketball = free-throw lane n. at free throw n. Compounds.
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1909 Shelbyville (Indiana) Republican 13 Feb. 1/5 Bozzell then cried out and got a chance from the foul lane and made it.
2020 Associated Press State & Local (Nexis) 24 Dec. Windler was making a strong move to the basket and was in the air when he was hit by Charlotte's Gordon Hayward and crashed in the foul lane.
foul pole n. Baseball and Softball either of the tall vertical poles at the end of each foul line (foul line n. 1) where it meets the outfield wall, which serve as boundary lines for a ball in the air.If a batted ball above the ground hits any part of a foul pole, it is considered a fair ball (fair ball n. (b) at fair adj. and n.1 Compounds 1b). Today there is usually a metal screen attached to the foul pole to make it easier to determine this.
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1894 Portland (Maine) Daily Press 22 May 2/4 Most of the audience thought it [sc. the ball] went outside the foul pole, but Kelleher called it far and the Portlands didn't kick.
1950 Life 31 July 34/2 (caption) Outfielder Dick Sisler watches helplessly as ball hit by Ralph Kiner bounces off the foul pole.., goes for a home run.
2019 Washington Post Blogs (Nexis) 27 June The Chicago White Sox and Washington Nationals have this season announced plans to extend safety netting down to both foul poles amid concerns about fan safety.
foul shot n. Basketball a chance or attempt to score from a designated line in front of the basket, awarded as a penalty for a foul committed by the opposing team; a free throw.Between one and three foul shots may be awarded depending on the nature of the foul, and each successful foul shot is worth one point.
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society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > basketball > [noun] > types of shot or ball
free throw1888
foul shot1902
jump shot1909
jump ball1924
pop shot1933
jumper1937
set shot1940
lay-up1948
fallaway1949
bonus1955
hook-shot1957
sky-hook1959
buzzer beater1965
brick1971
spot-up1992
1902 Philadelphia Inquirer 23 Feb. i. 12/7 The Wanderers were much off on foul shots, Groef missing four in succession.
1905 N.Y. Times 5 Mar. 13/1 Had Ritschy been able to place the ball accurately the Brooklyn boys would have come off with the victory on foul shots alone.
1994 Sports Illustr. 7 Nov. 178/1 It's bad enough that everyone but the ball boy gives a player a high five after he makes a foul shot.
2021 Ironton Tribune (Ohio) (Nexis) 10 Feb. Piketon converted 8-of-10 free throws while the Pointers did not shoot a foul shot.
foul territory n. Baseball and Softball the part of the playing area outside the foul lines (foul line n. 1); cf. foul ground n.
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1879 Spalding's Official Base Ball Guide 22 The third baseman has also the care of the foul territory in his neighborhood, in guarding which he should never lose sight of the privilege the occupant of a base has of running on a foul catch.
1978 Globe & Mail (Toronto) (Nexis) 22 Apr. There will always be a lot of scoring in this ball park... There isn't much room in foul territory. A lot of balls that go in the stands would be outs elsewhere.
2012 M. G. Higgins Power Hitter x. 67 The errant ball sailed past the first baseman's outstretched glove and into foul territory. Danny scored.
foul trouble n. Basketball a situation in which a player is close to exceeding the maximum permitted number of fouls and consequently being expelled from the game; cf. to foul out 2 at foul v.1 Phrasal verbs.
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society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > basketball > [noun] > foul
technical foul1878
personal1914
technical1917
foul trouble1931
profit foul1952
1931 Bradford (Pa.) Era 1 Jan. 7/1 The numerous small courts in Section Seven can be blamed for most of the foul trouble.
1941 Sunday Sun (Baltimore) 2 Feb. (Sports section) 2/1 The Navy center had foul trouble again and he incurred his third personal with two minutes left in the first half, when he was benched to be saved for a more critical time.
1969 Internat. Herald Tribune (Paris) 6 Nov. 13/1 Wes Unseld..sat out much of the game because of foul trouble.
2015 Dominion Post (Wellington, N.Z.) (Nexis) 6 Nov. (Sport section) 13 Jackson posted a club best 21-point haul..as he stayed out of foul trouble and brought a ton more energy than recent weeks.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2021; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
fouladj.
/faʊl/, U.S. /faʊl/ I. Offensive or revolting to the senses; dirty, not clean, and related senses. Frequently opposed to clean adj. II., fair adj.† 6. Ceremonially or ritually unclean or impure; spec. unclean according to religious dietary laws. Obsolete.† 12. Of a horse: that has been incompletely gelded. Cf. foul-cut adj. Obsolete. rare.Contrasted with clean adj. 5d.
1.
a. Grossly offensive to the senses; revolting, loathsome; esp. having a disgusting smell or taste; stomach-churning.In early use typically with reference to things which are putrid, rotten, or decaying (cf. sense 2). By the 19th cent. increasingly referring to things whose disgusting effect on the senses arises from their being extremely dirty (cf. senses 4, 5). The sense of smell is the predominant focus in all periods, although uses relating to taste are commonly found. Examples relating to touch are less common, but not unusual or unidiomatic, as is also the case with examples relating to sight where the sense is of something that is hideous or repulsive to look at (see sense 7a for visual examples with the weaker, more specific sense ‘unattractive, ugly’); cf. quots. 1607, 1893. Use relating to sound is much less common and frequently lacks any strong sense of disgust (see sense 1b).
ΚΠ
eOE Leechbk. (Royal) (1865) iii. viii. 312 Nim þas wyrte, safenan & mersc mealwan.., se fula wermod, sio greate banwyrt, acleaf.
OE Blickling Homilies 59 Se lichoma þonne on þone heardestan stenc & on þone fulostan bið gecyrred.
c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) 1192 Ȝiff þu cwennkesst i þe sellf..galnessess fule stinnch.
a1325 (c1250) Gen. & Exod. (1968) l. 2556 Summe he deden in vn-ðewed swinc, For it was fugel and ful o stinc.
a1425 (c1300) Serm. Sunday after Christmas (Cambr.) in J. Small Eng. Metrical Homilies (1862) 77 Wykked folk sall fall doun Into hell, that foule dongoun.
a1535 T. More Wks. (1557) 477 Lest he finally fall into the fowle smoke of helle, where he shall neuer see after.
1607 J. Harington tr. L. Ariosto Orlando Furioso (new ed.) xxxix. lxxxii. 332 They now full fraught,..With cruell sword (a foule sight to behold) Cut of their hands, wt which they now were climing, The bleeding stumps all mangled there remained.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost iv. 840 Thou resembl'st..Thy..place of doom obscure and foule . View more context for this quotation
1754 H. Jones Earl of Essex (ed. 2) i. 9 Oh it smells foul indeed, of rankest Malice And the vile Statesman's Craft.
1786 J. Barker Treat. on Cheltenham Water 17 Which not only looses all natural spirit, but also contracts a foul taste in its preparation.
1883 C. Grindrod King Henry I iii. i, in Plays from Eng. Hist. 109 There in the lowest dungeon, whose foul rot Poisons the sweetness of the natural air.
1893 M. J. Serrano tr. E. Zola Dr. Pascal (1901) ix. 204 The horrible grease of burnt flesh, enveloping everything, sticky and foul to the touch.
1926 People's Home Jrnl. Feb. 28/3 (advt.) It gets down into the hidden, unhealthful trap and cleans that too. Banishes all foul odors.
1968 P. K. Dick Do Androids dream of Electric Sheep? (2007) xxi. 227 Rick inhaled a pinch of Dr. Johnson Snuff; the menthol in it tasted foul, so early in the morning.
2012 Scotsman (Nexis) 29 Nov. With no room to sit down and no toilet facilities, the stench was foul.
b. Of a sound: awful, sickening; (also) harsh or disagreeable to the ear, discordant.After Middle English foul is not in widespread idiomatic use to describe sounds. Later examples tend towards the general, somewhat weakened sense ‘unpleasant, disagreeable’.
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the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > degree, kind, or quality of sound > unpleasant quality > [adjective]
foula1398
uglyc1400
unsweet1579
absonant1600
teeth-edging1603
horrisonous1631
horrisonant1656
ungrateful1659
common sounding1676
lacerant1785
cacophonous1797
uncadencedc1838
cacophonic1847
unlistenable1872
uneuphonious1880
ineuphonious1887
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) II. xix. cxxxi. 1387 Acordyng of voice hatte euphonia, þat is ‘swetnesse of vois’... And þe contrary hatte diaphonia ‘foul vois and discording’.
c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Pardoner's Tale (Hengwrt) (1872) l. 536 At either ende of thee, foul is the soun.
a1450 (c1410) H. Lovelich Hist. Holy Grail xliii. l. 171 (MED) This lucans Gan Roren In his throte, and made therto þe fowlest cryeng.
1569 R. Grafton Chron. II. 274 The Genowayes..made another leape and a foule crie.
1606 P. Holland tr. Suetonius Hist. Twelve Caesars 81 The Frogges..chaunced to make a foule noyse.
1810 J. West Refusal III. xxvi. 196 Though adulterer had a foul sound it might be disguised by fair appendages.
1968 Daily Tel. 20 July 19/7 The Boeing 737s have just started this month and they make a pretty foul noise, as well as flying pretty low.
2013 A. Donald Grail Knight (2014) 392 [A] hideous noise coming from my right—a foul sound somewhere between a shriek and a drone.
2. Medicine.† b. Of a wound, sore, ulcer, or (in early use) humour or other body fluid: corrupt; necrotic; suppurating. Obsolete.
a. Originally: designating disorders characterized by (supposed) putrefaction, or by the production of pus or malodorous excretions. In later use: spec. designating infectious diseases, esp. syphilis; chiefly in foul disease. Now historical.See also foulbrood n., foul evil n. at Compounds 3.
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the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > characteristics > [adjective] > other characteristics
hoteOE
redeOE
foulOE
elvishc1386
dryc1400
whitec1450
Naples1507
shaking1528
cold1569
exquisite1583
unpure1583
waterish1583
wandering1585
legitimate1615
sulphureous1625
tetrous1637
cagastrical1662
medical1676
ambulatory1684
ebullient1684
frantic1709
animated1721
progressive1736
cagastric1753
vegetative1803
left-handed1804
specific1804
subacute1811
animate1816
gregarious1822
vernal1822
ambilateral1824
subchronic1831
regressive1845
nummular1866
postoperative1872
ambulant1873
non-surgical1888
progredient1891
spodogenous1897
spodogenic19..
non-invasive1932
early-onset1951
adult-onset1957
non-specific1964
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of internal organs > venereal disease > [noun] > syphilis
foul evila1398
grandgore1497
French disease1503
French pox1503
pox1503
great pocka1519
great pox1529
morbus gallicus1543
gore1554
marbles1592
verol1596
Spanish pox1600
verola1600
the foul evil1607
bube1608
grincome1608
Neapolitan1631
lues1634
scabbado1651
venereal syphilis1653
foul disease1680
gout1694
syphilid1829
syphiloid1833
syphiloderma1850
vaccino-syphilis1868
neurosyphilis1878
old ral1878
syph1914
bejel1928
cosmic disease-
OE Aldhelm Glosses (Brussels 1650) in L. Goossens Old Eng. Glosses of MS Brussels, Royal Libr. 1650 (1974) 274 Purulentas [corporum] ualitudines : morbos, infirmitates, [right margin] fule untrumnysse.
a1400 tr. Lanfranc Sci. Cirurgie (Ashm.) (1894) 196 Lepra is a foul sijknes þat comeþ of malancolie corrupt.
1680 J. Bunyan Life & Death Mr. Badman 84 There often follows this foul sin, the Foul Disease, now called by us the Pox.
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Georgics iii, in tr. Virgil Wks. 117 On Winter Seas we fewer Storms behold, Than foul Diseases that infect the Fold. View more context for this quotation
1706 R. Howlett Anglers Sure Guide vi. 61 When Salmon have spawned, they grow out of Season, weak and flaggy, break out in filthy Blanes and Scabs all over their Bodies,..loathsome to Sight, and so unwholesome, that if then plentifully fed on, will bring a foul Leprosie upon those that eat them.
1750 W. Ellis Country Housewife's Family Compan. 357 Hence proceed those fatal Distempers, the Murrain, the Garget, the Blain, the Yellows, and many other foul Maladies incident to these most serviceable Creatures [sc. cows].
1881 J. H. Kellogg Plain Facts for Old & Young (new ed.) 309 By this means, it is expected to detect the cases of foul disease at the outset, and thus to protect others by placing the infected individuals under restraint and treatment.
1911 Jrnl. Amer. Inst. Criminal Law & Criminol. 2 128 The common jail is referred to as a relic of the dark ages, a disseminator of foul diseases and tuberculosis.
2001 Bull. Hist. Med. 75 205 Closer to the ground in London, the records of the royal hospitals reveal that the Foul Disease was the single most common malady treated.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > suppuration > [adjective]
fouleOE
festereda1398
quitterya1398
quittorousa1398
festrya1400
purulent?a1425
suppurate?a1425
matterativec1487
mattereda1500
mattery1527
attery1535
sanious1562
festering1563
matterish1566
infestered1570
ulcerated1580
suppurated1583
sordid1597
corsie1605
fistulating1607
rankling1631
suppurable1634
rancorous1635
undercotted1636
undercotting1637
suppuratory1659
puriform1668
quittorish1668
suppurating1671
scandalous1676
suppurative1746
suppurant1799
gleety1822
puruloid1846
pyoid1846
colloid substance1849
peptic1884
pussy1888
maturable1889
fretty1894
eOE Bald's Leechbk. (Royal) (1865) ii. 162 (table of contents) Læcedomas wiþ þon þe mete untela mylte & cirre on fule & yfle wætan oþþe scittan.
OE tr. Pseudo-Apuleius Herbarium (Vitell.) (1984) clxxviii. 222 Wið fule wunda & forr[otud]e.
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) I. vii. lxiv. 425 Among þe whelkes of þe legges ȝif þow fyndist one þat is more and foulere þan þe oþir, hit is a tokene þat þe lepra is..confermed.
a1400 tr. Lanfranc Sci. Cirurgie (Ashm.) (1894) 93 Þis is þe difference bitwene a cankre & a foul vlcus.
?c1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (Paris) (1971) 113 Foule humoures forsoþe haboundinge in þe body..Of a watry and foule flewme is gendred..aposteme.
1486 Bk. St. Albans sig. cvv If she holde not hir mete bot cast it, that is tokyn of the foule glet.
1673 R. Almond Eng. Horsman xxv. 244 If your Horse be troubled with any old and foul Sore, before you heal it, anoint it with this Ointment following, and it will sufficiently mundefie and cleanse it.
1799 Med. & Physical Jrnl. 2 350 A comparative view of a foul ulcer, with one in a healing state.
1910 H. C. Parker Handbk. Dis. Eye viii. 129 The base and walls are uneven and dirty, giving an eaten-out appearance. This is the stage of progression, or foul ulcer.
c. Affected with a disorder characterized by (supposed) putrefaction, or by the production of pus or malodorous excretions; spec. affected with an infectious disease, esp. syphilis or another sexually transmitted disease; also in figurative context. Also: reserved for the isolation and treatment of individuals with syphilis or other infectious diseases (chiefly in foul ward); known or likely to have cases of an infectious disease (cf. foul bill of health n. at Compounds 3). Now historical.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > places for the sick or injured > [noun] > hospital or infirmary > hospital ward > types of ward
foul ward1734
day ward1801
eye ward1828
casualty ward1836
scarlet ward1888
out-ward1890
observation ward1908
open ward1919
casualty1927
post-op1929
Nightingale ward1930
private1942
surgical1961
SCBU1968
NICU1971
pre-op1991
?1529 S. Fish Supplicacyon for Beggers sig. A1v The foule vnhappy sorte of lepres.
a1616 W. Shakespeare As you like It (1623) ii. vii. 60 I will through and through Cleanse the foule bodie of th'infected world. View more context for this quotation
1734 (title) Directions and prayers for the use of the patients in the foul wards of the Hospital in Southwark.
1833 United Service Jrnl. Feb. 201 But luckily, it is not in lazzaretti that we are to look for danger; because, when really foul cases do occur, there are few persons of such venal depravity as not to exert their whole power of discipline, were it only from motives of self-preservation.
1860 C. Dickens Uncommerc. Traveller in All Year Round 18 Feb. 393/2 When I stopped beside a bed, and said ever so slight a word to the figure lying there, the ghost of the old character came into the face, and made the Foul ward as various as the fair world.
1893 Board of Trade Jrnl. June 748 Vessels from Cette arriving on or after the 3d June are declared foul. Ports within 165 kilos. of Cette likewise are declared foul.
2012 A. Levene Childhood of Poor 227 (note) Susannah ward was only partially given over to foul patients, and in 1781 became a men's ward.
3. Decomposing; rotting.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > dirtiness > corruption or putridness > [adjective] > corrupt or putrid
rottingeOE
foulOE
rotted?c1225
rottena1250
corruptc1380
putrefieda1413
putrid?a1425
ranka1425
rottenly1435
pourryc1450
moskin1531
corrupped1533
corrupting1567
attainted1573
rot1573
putrefacted1574
baggage1576
tainted1577
pury1602
putrefactious1609
putrefactive1610
taint1620
putrescent1624
festerous1628
putid1660
scandalous1676
rottenish1691
putrefying1746–7
septic1746
corrupted1807
decomposing1833
decomposed1846
seething1875
OE Blickling Homilies 75 Lazarus, þe Crist awehte þy feorþan dæge þæs þe he on byrgenne wæs ful wunigende.
OE Homily (Hatton 113) in A. S. Napier Wulfstan (1883) 141 Eala þu earma lichama, nu þu scealt gewurðan to fulan hræwe and wyrmum to mete.
c1225 (?OE) Soul's Addr. to Body (Worcester) (Fragm. E) l. 5 Þu heo [sc. the earth] afulest mid þine fule holde.
c1400 (?a1300) Kyng Alisaunder (Laud) (1952) l. 4710 (MED) Men hem þrew wiþ drytt and dunge, Wiþ foule ayren, wiþ roþeres lunge.
a1500 (?c1440) J. Lydgate Horse, Goose & Sheep (Lansd.) l. 204 in Minor Poems (1934) ii. 548 (MED) A ded hors is but a fowle careyn.
1609 J. Skene tr. Regiam Majestatem ii. f. 59v Fule swine, or corrupted salmon, sould be not sauld.
1889 Boston Med. & Surg. Jrnl. 13 June 579/2 It proved to be a most powerful deodorizer, as..it removed almost instantly all stench from foul meat.
1948 R. Plant Dragon in Forest (1949) vii. 52 He had supplied the Austrian Army with rotten marmalade, made of foul apples and beets.
2008 P. C. Doherty Nightshade (2011) i. 22 A butcher guilty of selling foul meat had been singled out for special treatment.
4.
a. Covered or encrusted with dirt; dirty, filthy, soiled. Now archaic or regional, except when used with admixture of sense 1, carrying strong connotations of disgust.Quot. OE may reflect confusion in an earlier source between two Latin lemmas, stigma stigma n. and strigmentum strigment n.; the use of fūl in the gloss may be influenced by the latter.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > dirtiness > [adjective]
uncleaneOE
horyc1000
foulOE
fennilicha1225
sutya1225
mixc1225
blackc1300
solwyc1325
bawdy1377
filthyc1384
nastyc1390
sowlyc1400
soryc1440
uncleanly1447
mossyc1450
dungyc1494
bedirted1528
slubberly?1529
filthish1530
deturpate?1533
mucky1538
stercorous1542
bluterc1550
dungish?1550
puddly1559
drumly1563
suddle1568
parbruilyiedc1586
sluttered1589
dirty1600
ordurous?1606
immund1621
turpie1633
sterquilinious1647
bruckled1648
cloacal1656
foede1657
stercorose1727
murky1755
sterquilinian1772
cloacinean1814
floy1820
poucey1829
stoachy1836
mullocky1839
muckering1841
sewery1851
dutty1853
dauby1855
cloacean1859
mucky1863
bilgy1878
cloacaline1879
muck-heapy1881
cloacinal1887
schmutzig1911
grufty1922
scabrous1939
mawkit1962
feechie1975
OE Antwerp-London Gloss. (2011) 64 Stigmentum, ful maal on rægel.
a1225 (?OE) MS Lamb. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 81 Þes oðer..luueð his sunnen alse deð þet fette swin þet fule fen to liggen in.
c1300 Havelok (Laud) (1868) l. 555 In a poke, ful and blac, Sone he caste him on his bac.
a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1865) I. 289 Torfes..smelleþ wors þan wode, and makeþ fouler askes.
1480 Table Prouffytable Lernynge (Caxton) (1964) 32 Yf it [sc. the vrinall] be foull. So rubbe it within.
1535 Bible (Coverdale) Zech. iii. 4 Take awaye ye foule clothes from him.
1607 E. Grimeston tr. S. Goulart Admirable & Memorable Hist. 588 Hee commands him to bee layed in one of the richest beds, a riche Night-cap to bee giuen him, his foule shirt to bee taken off.
1700 S. L. tr. C. Schweitzer Relation Voy. in tr. C. Frick & C. Schweitzer Relation Two Voy. E.-Indies 341 One of the Washers, came..to fetch People's foul Linnen.
1807 Med. & Physical Jrnl. 17 107 The sick..dressed in their foulest clothes.
1904 A. M. F. Robinson Fields of France (ed. 2) 267 There you can have at your good pleasure a horse all skin and bone, a broken bed with foul sheets.
2014 L. J. Rowland Iris Fan iii. 20 The white sheet under him and the quilt at the foot of the bed were red with blood and foul with excrement released from his bowels.
b. In extended metaphors and other figurative contexts, with reference to moral or spiritual corruption (compare the senses in branch II.). Often, esp. in early use, in relation to responsibility for bloodshed; cf. to have blood on one's hands.
ΚΠ
OE Ælfric Lives of Saints (Julius) (1900) II. 320 Þu wære wyrðe sleges nu, ac ic nelle afylan on þinum fulum blode mine clænan handa, forðanþe ic Criste folgie.
?1473 W. Caxton tr. R. Le Fèvre Recuyell Hist. Troye (1894) I. lf. 17v My handes ben foule and filthid with the blood of my laufull broder.
1529 T. More Supplyc. Soulys i. f. xxii For they shall gather to gyder.., tyll they make all beggers as they be theym selfe, and at laste bryng all the realme to ruyne, and thys not wythout bochery and fowle blody handys.
1598 W. Shakespeare Love's Labour's Lost iv. i. 136 Come come, you talke greasely, your lips grow fowle . View more context for this quotation
1715 D. Defoe Family Instructor I. i. iv. 101 If you hold of this Mind, we are like to have a foul House with you quickly.
1843 Tait's Edinb. Mag. Feb. 103/1 O trample to dust the inglorious banner, That once proudly waved o'er the ranks of the free; It is foul with the ensigns of blackest dishonour, O bury its folds in the depths of the sea.
1997 N.Y. Times 12 Sept. a35/5 The museum is a river... On the second floor, the river is foul with the blood of hatred.
c. Of a road, path, etc.: muddy.
ΚΠ
OE Handbk. for Use of Confessor (Corpus Cambr. 201) in Anglia (1965) 83 29 Se ðe þara mihta hæbbe,..godige folces fær mid bricgum ofer deope wæteru and ofer fule wegas.
a1170 ( Bounds (Sawyer 411) in M. Gelling Place-names Berks. (1976) III. 671 Þonne forð on þone smalan weg to þam fulan wege, se hatte stific weg.
?c1450 Life St. Cuthbert (1891) l. 7214 Þe way was foule, and wendyng hard.
1516 Will of R. Peke of Wakefield in J. Raine Testamenta Eboracensia (1884) V. 74 To ament a fowll holle abowt the brige.
1650 H. Vaughan Silex Scintillans 38 The night Is dark, and long; The Rode foul.
1821 J. Galt Ann. Parish xxxix. 312 The dibs were full, the roads foul.
1889 Whitby Gaz. 25 Oct. 3/3 If the way be foul so as not to be passable.
1991 Spin May 63 That's when obstacles like potholes, speed bumps and foul roads come into play.
d. Medicine. Of the tongue: having a thick, typically whitish coating of cellular debris and bacteria (usually occurring in gastroenteritis and fevers); coated; furred (cf. furred adj. 4a).
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of internal organs > disorders of mouth > [adjective] > impure matter
engleimedc1450
furred1509
foul1632
foulish1753
loaded1860
1632 tr. G. Bruele Praxis Medicinæ 398 They loathe all kindes of meate, and vomit vp cholericke, and diuers kinds of humors; their tongue is very foule, and their mouth bitter; their countenance is like theirs that are drunke, the vrine for the most part is thicke and smells not well.
1800 Med. & Physical Jrnl. 4 422 We misunderstand one of the most common appearances..I mean a foul tongue.
1864 Brit. & Foreign Medico-chirurg. Rev. 34 474 The tongue became dry and foul, head-ache became worse, and nights very disturbed.
2014 C. Hamlin More than Hot vi. 195 The blackened and foul tongue was not merely coated, and if the great ulcerating purple blotches on swollen legs were not the textbook petechiae, they might yet be perversions of them.
5.
a. Containing or filled with impurities or noxious matter; dirty, polluted.Chiefly used with reference to water or the air, in later use with admixture of sense 1, carrying strong connotations of disgust, except in certain technical contexts, e.g. in mining (cf. quot. 1885).Used in building, plumbing, etc., with reference to waste water that has been used for washing or cooking; see also foul water n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > dirtiness > pollution or defilement > environmental pollution > [adjective]
foulOE
rotten?a1400
OE Ælfric Interrogationes Sigewulfi in Genesin (Corpus Cambr. 162) lxvii in Anglia (1884) 7 48 On þæra Sodomitiscra gewitnunge forbarn seo eorþe & bið æfre unwæstmbære & mid fulum wætere ofergan.
1535 Bible (Coverdale) Jer. ii. 18 To drinke foule water.
1654 Expert Gardener 5 in T. Barker Country-mans Recreation A ditch, pond, or well, or any other foule ditch water.
1756 C. Lucas Ess. Waters i. 35 The Seine..is foul and turbid as the Avon.
1784 R. Robinson Let. 26 May in Misc. Wks. (1807) IV. 232 The peas fine, but foul.
1805 T. Lindley Voy. Brasil (1808) 48 Oppressed with breathing the foul air.
1844 1st Rep. Commissioners State of Large Towns II. 4 The water..will..raise the scales or particles of mud which have been deposited in the downward passage, and carry them into the foul-water drain below.
1885 Manch. Examiner 5 June 5/2 Old workings charged with foul gas.
1944 G. E. Mitchell in R. Greenhalgh Pract. Builder vi. 231/2 This is regarded as the minimum size which is adequate for all drains carrying sewage and foul water.
2011 Labour Hist. 101 38 An increase in tuberculosis due, amongst other things, to foul, damp air and inadequate ventilation in the mines.
b. Dull and dirty in colour; discoloured; (also) designating such a colour. Also in figurative contexts. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > dirtiness > dirt > soiled condition > [adjective] > dingy or discoloured
foul1547
miscoloured1648
dingy1665
tarnished1716
dinged1725
distained1838
1547 A. Cope Godly Meditacion Bb.iv A greate numbre whiche were harde herted synners.., are nowe..from theyr foule colour of wickednes become whyte as wolle and beautiful in syght.
a1616 W. Shakespeare All's Well that ends Well (1623) i. iii. 6 We..make foule the clearnesse of our deseruings. View more context for this quotation
1717 tr. A. F. Frézier Voy. South-Sea 183 Glass made with Saltpeter..is green, foul, and ill wrought.
1738 G. Smith tr. Laboratory ii. 55 Put into this your yellow-colour'd or foul Pearls.
1876 Baily's Monthly Mag. Apr. 271 The foul colour of the stream more like pea-soup than any other mixture.
1942 Nottingham Evening Post 10 Jan. 4/2 Foul green or cinnamon cock.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > condition of matter > bad condition of matter > [adjective] > rotten or putrefied
forrottedc897
foulOE
rotted?c1225
rottena1250
corruptc1380
enraged1398
putrefieda1413
purulent?a1425
putrid?a1425
ranka1425
rottenly1435
corrupped1533
corruptious1559
attainted1573
rot1573
putrefacted1574
baggage1576
tainted1577
pourryc1580
corruptive1593
putrilaginous1598
putrefactious1609
taint1620
putid1660
rottenish1691
septic1746
corrupted1807
mullocky1839
rotty1872
seething1875
society > faith > worship > cleanness (ceremonial) > [adjective] > not
uncleaneOE
foulOE
commonc1384
impure1623
OE Ælfric Old Test. Summary: Maccabees (Julius) in W. W. Skeat Ælfric's Lives of Saints (1900) II. 68 Hi bestungon him on muþ, mid mycelre ðreatunge, þone fulan mete þe Moyses forbead Godes folce to þicgenne.
a1200 MS Trin. Cambr. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1873) 2nd Ser. 47 After þes childes burde..men telden it ful al þat hie handlede.
a1425 (c1395) Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) (Royal) (1850) Lev. xxii. 5 He that touchith..vncleene thing, whos touchyng is foul [E.V. a1425 Corpus Oxf. 4 hoory; L sordidus], schal be vncleene til to euentid.
?a1425 Mandeville's Trav. (Egerton) (1889) 41 So foule men schuld noȝt comme in to so haly place.
7. † b. Of a part of a domestic animal: ill-formed; misshapen. Obsolete.
a. Not pleasing or fair in appearance; spec. (of a person) unattractive, ugly. Cf. fair adj. 1a. Now colloquial and regional.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > lack of beauty > ugliness > [adjective]
foulOE
uglyc1386
malgraciousa1393
unsightlya1400
loathc1400
ouglec1415
shrewdc1430
unsightyc1440
unwholesome?a1500
evil-favoured1530
ill-favoured1530
uglisome1530
huggeda1533
hard-favoureda1535
evil-liking1535
ill-favorited1579
stigmatical1589
stigmatic1597
sightlessa1616
hard-featured1638
grislya1681
bad-looking1757
unmackly1765
unfavourable1776
dissightly1777
eyesore1798
wavelled1886
spiderly1891
Plain Jane1912
hackit1985
OE Sedulius Glosses (Corpus Cambr. 173) in H. D. Meritt Old Eng. Glosses (1945) 37/1 [Corpore] fœdo : wletlicum, fulum.
OE Old Eng. Hexateuch: Gen. (Claud.) xli. 3 Him þuhte eac þæt he gesawe cuman oþre seofon oxan.., þa wæron fule & swiþe hlæne [L. foedae confectaeque macie].
a1275 Body & Soul (Trin. Cambr. B.14.39) in C. Brown Eng. Lyrics 13th Cent. (1932) 31 Me prikit him in on vul clohit.
c1400 (?a1387) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Huntington HM 137) (1873) C. xix. l. 54 Þenne tok ich hede, Wheþer þe frut wher [emended in ed. to were] faire oþer foul to loken on.
c1405 (c1395) G. Chaucer Wife of Bath's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) Prol. l. 265 And if that she be foul, thow seyst þt she Coueiteth euery man that she may se.
1483 ( tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage of Soul (Caxton) iv. ii. f. lviijv These pepyns..myght nought kyndely sprynge to a fayre Appeltree, but to fowle buskes and wylde.
a1533 J. Frith Against Rastel (?1535–6) sig. Bvi He hathe made a foule hole in his kinsmans beste cote.
1568 E. Tilney Brief Disc. Mariage (new ed.) sig. Evij Daylie we maye see a foule deformed woman, that [etc.].
1583 C. Hollyband Campo di Fior 15 Thou callest me fowle [Fr. laide, It. brutta] wenche.
1611 Bible (King James) Job xvi. 16 My face is fowle with weeping. View more context for this quotation
a1616 W. Shakespeare Othello (1622) ii. i. 143 What miserable praise hast thou for her, That's foule and foolish? View more context for this quotation
1616 W. Browne Britannia's Pastorals II. i. 10 None could be foule esteem'd, compar'd with her.
1836 R. W. Emerson Beauty in Nature iii. 20 There is no object so foul that intense light will not make beautiful.
1850 R. C. Trench Notes Parables (ed. 2) xii. 187 He loved her when she was foul, that he might make her fair.
1954 J. R. R. Tolkien Fellowship of Ring i. x. 184 ‘I see,’ laughed Strider. ‘I look foul and feel fair.’
2017 @tsflan1 10 Feb. in twitter.com (accessed 4 Mar. 2021) He is fouler than a box of frogs, his mum got slapped by the midwife, instead of his arse.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > animal body > general parts > [adjective] > ill-shaped
foul1688
1688 London Gaz. No. 2336/8 Lost..a middle-siz'd Fleet-Hound Bitch, very strong made..a foul stern.
1703 London Gaz. No. 3881/4 Stolen..a thick punching Horse..a little white on one of his Heels, and a foul Head.
1749 London Evening Post 10–12 Mar. Lost from Harrow on the Hill the Beginning of last Week, an open yellow pyed Hound Bitch, more white then yellow, with a shortish foul Stern, about 18 Inches high, slightish hung.
8. † a. Abject, miserable, or wretched in state or condition. Obsolete.† b. Of poor quality; not fit for purpose; worthless, useless; spec. (of a horse) sluggish, unfit. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1963) 2 Kings vi. 22 I schal pleiyn & fowlere I schal ben maad more þan I am maad [L. et vilior fiam plus quam factus sum]: & I schal ben meeke in my eȝyn.
c1400 (?a1387) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Huntington HM 137) (1873) C. xxii. l. 33 To make lordes of laddes..And fre men foule þralles.
?a1425 (c1400) Mandeville's Trav. (Titus C.xvi) (1919) 83 (MED) It is the foulest contree & the most cursed and the porest þat men knowen.
c1540 (?a1400) Gest Historiale Destr. Troy (2002) f. 130v Thies fellyn hym to fete with a foule chere.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > inferiority or baseness > wretchedness > [adjective]
unledeeOE
sorryOE
evila1131
usellc1175
wanlichec1275
bad1276
sorry1372
meana1375
caitiff1393
loddera1400
woefula1400
foulc1400
wretched1450
meschant?1473
unselc1480
peevisha1522
miser1542
scurvy?1577
forlorn1582
villainous1582
measled1596
lamented1611
thrallfula1618
despicable1635
deplorable1642
so-and-so1656
poorish1657
squalida1660
lamentable1676
mesquina1706
shan1714
execrable1738
quisby1807
hole in the wall1822
measly1847
bum1878
shag-bag1888
snidey1890
pathetic1900
the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > family Equidae (general equines) > temperament > [adjective] > sluggish
foul1580
earthlya1661
c1400 (?c1390) Sir Gawain & Green Knight (1940) l. 1944 (MED) I haf hunted al þis day, & noȝt haf I geten Bot þis foule fox felle.
c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Nun's Priest's Tale (Hengwrt) (1872) Prol. l. 4003 What though thyn hors be bothe foul and lene.
a1439 J. Lydgate Fall of Princes (Bodl. 263) iv. l. 2672 (MED) Ther is no maner iust convenience..ynde saphirs in coper to be set; Ther kyndli poweer in foul metal is let.
a1500 (?c1425) Speculum Sacerdotale (1936) 238 (MED) The procutour ȝede to the market..and brouȝt home a foule cote and a schorte.
1535 Bible (Coverdale) 1 Sam. xv. 9 What was foule and nothinge worth, that they damned.
1580 J. Frampton tr. N. Monardes Dial. Yron in Ioyfull Newes (new ed.) f. 133 For if they cast the iuyce vppon him, it maketh him fowle [Sp. lo entorpece].
1609 W. Shakespeare Troilus & Cressida i. iii. 352 Let vs like Marchants First shew foule wares, and thinke perchance theile sell. View more context for this quotation
1740 H. Bracken Farriery Improv'd (ed. 2) II. iv. 92 Any Horse that has too little Exercise, and is what we call foul, may puff and blow when moved quick up a Hill.
1740 G. Smith tr. Laboratory (rev. ed.) App. p. xxxiv If it [sc. the rocket] raises a little, and falls back, then the charge is foul.
c. Of a salmon: that is spawning or has recently spawned and as a consequence is in poor condition. Cf. clean adj. 5b. Now chiefly historical.For the semantic motivation of this sense perhaps cf. quot. 1706 at sense 2a.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > fish > [noun] > young > collective
brood1389
fry1389
menise?c1425
small fry1577
minutes1598
foul1765
fish-fry1951
1765 Memorial for A. Fraser 6 It further appears..that the fishermen upon this river are oft-times in the practice of catching foul or black fish.
1780 in C. Cordiner Antiq. & Scenery North of Scotl. ii. 6 The foul salmon, of which a drawing has been already sent to Mr. Pennant, was caught February the 10th, 1776.
1887 F. Day Brit. & Irish Salmonidæ 132 The period of time and the distance to be observed between the working of nets was likewise laid down, while the killing of foul fish was likewise prohibited.
1914 Rod & Gun in Canada Mar. 1064/2 It does not appear that unseasonable salmon known as ‘foul or unclean’ are harmful as food, and they may afford much sport.
1988 J. Clements Salmon at Antipodes iii. 32/2 A well organized outlet developed to market the stolen fish and it was estimated that £7,000 worth of foul salmon was smuggled into France alone in 1856.
9.
a. Of the weather: unpleasantly wet and windy; stormy. Cf. fair adj. 7.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > bad weather > [adjective]
starkOE
unkindc1330
foulc1390
distemperate1398
distempered1490
untemperate1525
intemperate1526
naughty1541
intempered1556
unkindly1579
sour1582
unclement1598
filthy1600
nasty1634
dirty1660
inclement1667
inclemental1709
wretched1711
foul-weather1750
ungenial1816
wersh1830
shabby1853
1269 Close Rolls Henry III (1938) XIV. 82 Rogeri fiz Foulweder.]
c1390 (a1376) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Vernon) (1867) A. vii. l. 310 Þorw Flodes and foul weder [B text c1400 Laud 581 foule wederes] Fruites schul fayle.
a1425 J. Wyclif Sel. Eng. Wks. (1869) I. 101 (MED) Þe same tyme is clepid..here faire tyme and hoot, and her foule wedir and coold.
a1542 T. Wyatt Coll. Poems (1969) cv. 81 In fowle weder at my booke to sitt.
a1616 W. Shakespeare King John (1623) iv. ii. 108 So foule a skie, cleeres not without a storme. View more context for this quotation
1661 S. Pepys Diary 19 Apr. (1970) II. 79 It being so foule that I could not go to White-hall.
1719 D. Defoe Life Robinson Crusoe 219 A very foul Night it was after it.
1776 A. Smith Inq. Wealth of Nations I. i. x. 126 A mason..can work neither in hard frost nor in foul weather. View more context for this quotation
1879 Marlburian 5 Mar. 30/2 This was a signal defeat by 6 goals and three tries to nothing; Weather was foul.
1937 E. A. M. Wedderburn Alpine Climbing ii. 17 A wind-proof ‘Anorak’..is a life-saver in foul weather.
2011 Faversham Times (Nexis) 11 July 3 The fact that so many people came along on such a foul day is a testament to how successful the pre-school is.
b. Nautical. Of a wind or tide: unfavourable to the course of a ship; contrary. Later also Aeronautics: designating winds unfavourable to the course of an aircraft. Opposed to fair adj. 7b. Also in figurative contexts.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > wind > [adjective] > unfavourable or contrary
contraryc1384
reversea1393
awaywarda1500
contrariousa1513
foul1657
contradictious1766
unfavourable1788
unfair1801
1657 W. Brough Holy Feasts & Fasts 404 The high wind of Power, or fair wind of Prosperity carries away many. The Side-wind of Faction most. The foul wind of Lust all.
1726 Four Years Voy. Capt. G. Roberts 3 Untoward Weather, as well as a foul Wind.
1780 A. Young Tour Ireland i. 334 When the wind was fair the tide was foul; and when the tide was with them, the wind would not do.
1883 S. C. Hall Retrospect Long Life II. 300 The packet could not sail in the teeth of a foul wind.
1971 Flying Mag. Mar. 73/1 Hills and high-density terminals, foul winds and worse weather.
2016 Yeats Ann. 20 265 Frustrated by foul winds which prevent his rounding the Cape of Good Hope, the captain is asked if he will put into Table Bay.
10.
a. Of handwriting: messy, illegible. In later use often with the specific implication of being typical of a draft version (cf. sense 10b).
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > writing > handwriting or style of > [adjective] > bad > illegible or untidy
unlegible1451
foul?1467
scribbled1550
scribbling1592
crabbed1612
hieroglyphical1613
scrabbled1625
illegible1640
unreadable1655
scribbly1659
pot-hook1674
scrawlinga1754
undecipherable1758
scribblative1829
scrawly1833
scrawny1833
scrawled1848
hieroglyphic1856
pot-hooky1867
scriggly1896
chicken scratch1933
?1467 J. Gresham in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) II. 382 By-cause of the foule wrytyng and interlynyeng.
1783 J. Banks Let. 13 Oct. (2000) xvii. 64 His business is to Copy fair the foul scrawls of Architects into pretty plans to tempt gentlemen to build houses.
1956 Mod. Lang. Notes 71 604 The diary was written in a foul hand, as the illustrative pages in this edition clearly show.
1998 Australasian Drama Stud. Oct. 189 In the end, Honigmann blames Q's omissions on Shakespeare's foul handwriting in the foul papers.
b. Designating a draft version of a manuscript or proof copy of a text which is marked up with editorial changes or corrections (often with the implication that those changes are extensive). Also more generally: full of errors, alterations, crossings out, etc. Chiefly in foul copy foul proof. Contrasted with clean adj. 3c, fair adj. 11e.See also foul papers n.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > book > copy > [noun] > first copy with corrections
foul copy1629
society > communication > printing > printed matter > [noun] > proof > proof with many faults
foul proof1755
1571 Dict. French & Eng. sig. S.iiiv/1 Maculatures & meschants papiers, fowle or waste papers.
1629 J. Earle Micro-cosmogr. (ed. 5) xxi. sig. E4v Acquaintance Is the first draught of a friend, whom we must lay downe oft thus, as the foule coppy.
1659 T. Burton Diary (1828) IV. 470 The particulars in his hands were foul books and papers, out of which those he had returned were extracted.
1729 J. Gay Polly Pref. p. iii I take this occasion in the most solemn manner to affirm, that the very copy I delivered to Mr. Rich was written in my own hand some months before at the Bath from my own first foul blotted papers.
1755 J. Smith Printer's Gram. 280 What is required of a Compositor when he goes about Correcting a foul Proof, is a sharp Bodkin, and Patience.
1758 J. Jortin Life Erasmus I. 46 He sent a foul Copy..to Ammonius, begging him to get it transcribed.
1899 Typogr. Jrnl. 2 Jan. 6/2 The ill-conditioned fellow who asserted that..the reason his proof was foul was because the reader had a personal grudge against him?
1987 Amer. Lit. 59 498 Our review volume exhibits twenty or more pages of foul copy.
2002 Papers Bibliogr. Soc. Amer. 96 172 Anyone associated with the text..could have made this correction; indeed, it could have been made by a printing house proofreader, on foul proofs, and misplaced by the compositor making the correction.
11. Of food: unpleasant, esp. because coarse or rotten (cf. sense 3). Of diet or consumption: consisting or made up of coarse or unpleasant foodstuffs. In later use usually: designating an animal (or occasionally a person) whose diet habitually consists of food of this kind, esp. one that feeds on carrion. Frequently in foul feeder.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > qualities of food > [adjective] > coarse or tough
toughc1400
boisterous1483
fulsome1555
foul1560
rough1583
coarse1607
indelicate1751
tough as (old) boots or leather1843
the world > physical sensation > taste and flavour > unsavouriness > [adjective] > disgusting
queasyc1450
walsh1513
filthy1533
wallowish1548
foul1560
maumish1580
nasty1601
distastable1607
distasteful1611
disgustfula1625
nauseous1649
fulsome1694
mawkisha1697
disgusting1754
pukey1852
brackish1871
wambly1899
bogging1973
feechie1975
angin1994
1560 J. Heywood tr. Seneca Thyestes i. sig. Aiii With fowlest foode thy famyne fyll, let bloode in wyne be drownde, And droonke in syght of thee.
1607 G. Markham Cavelarice iii. 24 If your horse be grosse, fat, and a foule feeder, which is calld a kettie horse.
1713 H. Felton Diss. Reading Classics 66 They are all for rank and foul Feeding.
1726 G. Shelvocke Voy. round World vii. 248 Not one had an hour's sickness, notwithstanding that we fed on such foul diet without bread or salt.
1785 F. Grose Classical Dict. Vulgar Tongue Slush bucket, a foul feeder, one that eats much greasy food.
1838 Sportsman Jan. 25/1 All the diseases incident to dogs are attributed..to foul feeding.
1922 Geogr. Jrnl. 60 9 It may not be generally known that the hare is occasionally a very foul feeder.
1996 New Straits Times (Malaysia) (Nexis) 17 May (Food section) 9 This fish is also a foul-feeder which likes to congregate beneath toilets built over rivers to feed on human excrement and other unmentionables.
ΚΠ
1811 Sporting Mag. Aug. 212/2 A foul horse—not a complete gelding.
II. Evil, sinful, wicked, and other senses relating to a person's actions or behaviour.† 15. Guilty of a charge, accusation, or offence. Frequently opposed to clean (see clean adj. 4b). Obsolete.† 20. U.S. Criminals' slang. Discovered in the act of committing a crime or while still bearing or in possession of obvious evidence of guilt; caught red-handed. Cf. red-handed adj. 1c. Obsolete.
13.
a. Evil, sinful, wicked; morally or spiritually polluted; abominable. Cf. clean adj. 4.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > wrongdoing > corruption > [adjective]
sickc960
foulOE
unwholec1000
thewlessa1327
corrupt1340
viciousc1340
unwholesomec1374
infecta1387
rustyc1390
unsound?a1400
rottenc1400
rotten-heartedc1405
cankereda1450
infectedc1449
wasted1483
depravate?1520
poisoned1529
deformed1555
poisonous1555
reprobate1557
corrupted1563
prave1564
base-minded1573
tainted1577
Gomorrhean1581
vice-like1589
depraved1593
debauched1598
deboshedc1598
tarish1601
sunk1602
speckled1603
deboist1604
diseased1608
ulcerous1611
vitial1614
debauchc1616
deboise1632
pravous1653
depravea1711
unhealthy1821
scrofulous1842
septic1914
society > morality > moral evil > [adjective] > morally foul
fennyc897
foulOE
sutya1225
lousyc1386
rustyc1390
filthy?c1400
feculent1471
OE Crist III 1482 For hwan þu þæt selegescot þæt ic me swæs on þe gehalgode, hus to wynne, þurh firenlustas, fule synne, unsyfre bismite?
a1225 (?OE) MS Vesp. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 243 Euel ȝeþanc and fule lustes.
c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) l. 7814 King willam..bigan sone to grony & to febly..Vor trauail of þe voul asaut.
c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Parson's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) §72 Ne a fouler thral may no man ne woman make of his body than for to yeue his body to synne.
1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection iii. sig. QQiiii Their suggestions & thoughtes be foule & vnprofible.
1604 W. Shakespeare Hamlet i. v. 27 Murther most foule, as in the best it is.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Tempest (1623) iv. i. 139 I had forgot that foule conspiracy Of the beast Calliban. View more context for this quotation
1679 W. Penn Addr. Protestants (1692) ii. v. 186 To be Led..in ways we see to be foul or wrong.
1781 W. Cowper Expostulation 213 Grace abused brings forth the foulest deeds, As richest soil the most luxuriant weeds.
1838 C. Thirlwall Hist. Greece (new ed.) IV. 267 Aristophanes must stand convicted..of the foulest motives.
1915 Western Times 14 May 5/3 The sinking of the Cunard Liner ‘Lusitania’ must be regarded as the foulest of all the foul crimes of the enemy.
2020 Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, Va.) (Nexis) 19 Jan. c2 History is filled with foul deeds that went largely unpunished until a whistleblower bravely went public with the truth.
b. Designating a diabolic or demonic being or agent. Now only in nicknames for the Devil, esp. in foul fiend (see also the foul ghost, foul thief n.).
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > supernatural being > evil spirit or demon > [adjective]
foulOE
demoniatc1440
demonicalc1475
demoniaclec1500
demoniacal1565
demoniac1603
demonic1642
demonial1658
demonian1671
pishachi1837
demoniatic1855
demonish1863
OE tr. Chrodegang of Metz Regula Canonicorum (Corpus Cambr. 191) lxxxiv. 339 Sanctus Bonefacius biscop draf þone fulan gast of sumon men [L. ex quodam homine inmundum spiritum excussit].
c1275 in C. Brown Eng. Lyrics 13th Cent. (1932) 53 I schal to þeostre stude..i schal i-mete moni a ful wiht.
a1500 St. Katherine (Cambr. Ff.2.38) l. 231 in C. Horstmann Altengl. Legenden (1881) 2nd. Ser. 262 Helle hounde, þou fowle wyghte.
1526 Bible (Tyndale) Rev. xviii. 2 Babilon..ys become..the holde of all fowle sprettes.
1658 T. Bromhall Treat. Specters i. 44 This foul spirit often twitched and pulled them by the hair.
1719 I. Watts Psalms of David 332 On thee foul spirits have no power.
a1774 R. Fergusson Poems Var. Subj. (1779) 32 Our Deacon wadna ca' a chair, The foul ane durst him na-say.
1876 J. E. Stebbins Fifty Years Hist. of Temperance Cause viii. 117 But the foul spirit was there.
14. † b. That conceals the true nature or intentions of someone or something; deceptive, deceitful; insincere, false. Cf. false adj. 10a. Obsolete.† c. Fraudulent. Originally used of a fraudulent return in an election (see return n. 3a), later of an insurance loss paid as the result of a fraudulent representation. Obsolete.
a. Disgraceful, shameful; ignominious. Now somewhat archaic, typically of a calumny or insult.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > disrepute > disgrace or dishonour > [adjective]
shondly888
frakeda900
shondfula900
foulOE
shendful?c1225
shamelyc1275
shendlyc1275
shamefulc1330
villain1338
inhonest1340
shameworthy1382
shendshipful1382
dishonestc1386
slanderous1402
defamable?a1439
defamousc1450
misshamefulc1450
vituperablec1450
ignominious?a1475
shamevousc1475
inhominious1490
opprobrious?1510
opprobrousc1530
rebukeful1530
dishonourable1533
reproachful1534
disworshipful1539
dedecoratec1540
contumelious1546
spiteful1550
ignomious1571
inglorious1573
disgraceful1595
disgracive1602
vituperous1610
vituperious1612
disgracious1615
disparageable1617
propudious1629
deflowering1642
scandalized1664
dedecorous1755
disgracing1807
vituperate1832
vituperated1842
mighty1889
soddish1922
OE tr. Vindicta Salvatoris (Cambr. Univ. Libr.) in J. E. Cross Two Old Eng. Apocrypha (1996) 283 Ic wat, þæt he þa het Pilatum þam fulestan deaðe acwylman.
?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 161 Þenne habbeð þeos þe fuleste meoster i þe feondes curt.
c1330 Otuel (Auch.) (1882) l. 1128 Al þe kinges ost a non Foleuweden..& maden a foul larder.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Gött.) l. 7829 A fouler dede þan ani may driue.
c1475 (?c1400) Apol. Lollard Doctr. (1842) 55 Þe Son of God wold be condempnid to fowlist deþ.
a1535 T. More Dialoge of Comfort (1553) iii. sig. N.iiiiv This vngracious secte of Machomet shal haue a foule fal.
1559 W. Baldwin et al. Myrroure for Magistrates Northumberland xi This fowle despite did cause vs to conspire.
1600 W. Shakespeare Midsummer Night's Dream iii. ii. 198 Haue you conspir'd..To baite mee, with this foule derision? View more context for this quotation
1659 D. Pell Πελαγος 605 This is a foul blot in the Sailors Scutchion.
1756 C. Lucas Ess. Waters ii. 144 I should be glad..to acquit the college..of this foul charge.
1864 Vermont Watchman 1 Apr. We are glad to find in a journal whose politics are of the stamp of the World, a refutation of this foul calumny.
1916 Congress. Rec. 53 13911/1 It is a foul blot, a foul chapter in the fair history of Wisconsin.
1987 Times 21 May 1/4 The willingness of the Tories to fight a dirty campaign using what he called a ‘foul smear’.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > dissimulation, pretence > insincerity > [adjective]
feignedc1374
unplaina1393
hollowa1529
hollow-hearted1549
foul1550
unsincere1577
insincere1634
unsound1714
lip-deep1802
lip-born1872
phoney1951
pseud1962
1550 J. Hooper Ouersight Jonas iii. f. 40v Then washeth he hys handes with as much foule honestie as he can.
1658 E. Ashmole Way to Bliss i. ii. 24 And so, put case you finde your own dark and dusky Eye-sight so soon taken with every foul and vain worldly Beauty, yet you must not judge these heavenly Men thereby.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > office > appointment to office > choosing or fact of being chosen for office > election of representative body by vote > [adjective] > fraudulent (of a return)
foula1683
a1683 Earl of Shaftesbury Some Observ. conc. Regulating of Elections (1689) 18 No unfair Elections; no foul Returns.
1685 N. Luttrell Diary in Brief Hist. Relation State Affairs (1857) I. 341 Foul returns [of elections] made in many places.
1783 H. Cowper Rep. Court King's Bench 1774–78 566 The defendant passed the whole sum in his account with Messrs. Ludlow and Shaw, and gave credit to them for it against a sum of 3000l. in which they stood indebted to him. On the 17th of May, notice was given by the plaintiff to the defendant that it was a foul loss.
1829 J. L. Wendell Rep. Supreme Court N.-Y. 1 177 On the 17th May, the plaintiff gave the defendant notice that the loss was foul.
1925 F. R. Mechem & W. A. Seavey Sel. Cases on Law of Agency (ed. 2) iii. 239 Later it was discovered that it had been a foul loss and the plaintiff demanded back the money.
ΚΠ
OE Laws of Cnut (Nero) xxxii. 336 Gyf þeowman æt þam ordale ful weorðe, mearcie man hine æt þam forman cyrre.
lOE Laws of Æðelred II (Rochester) iii. vii. §1. 230 Gif he clæne beo æt þam ordale, nime upp his mæg; gif he þonne ful beo, licge þar he læg.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 4918 Ha ha, traiturs, now wel is sene Queþer þat yee be fule or clene.
c1485 ( G. Hay Bk. Law of Armys (2005) 126 The will and the purpos jn mysdedis makis the man foule or clene.
1593 T. Churchyard Challenge 12 I must..Prooue foule or cleane, and by my Peeres be tried.
c1600 in Balfour's Practicks (1754) 611 Efter the offendar be anis fund foul of the first offence.
1621 H. Elsynge Notes Deb. House of Lords (1870) 36 Twedy is very fowle in this buissines.
16. Of speech or language: offensive, obscene; containing swearing or rude words; (also) abusive. Also occasionally in weaker use: unpolished, inelegant (cf. fair adj. 3). Cf. foul-mouthed adj., foul-tongued adj.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > malediction > [adjective] > ribald or scurrilous
foulOE
ribaldya1438
ribaldousc1440
villainous1470
ribald?a1500
ribaldious?1518
ribaldry1519
ribaldish?1533
rabulous1538
reprobriousa1539
ribaldrous1565
scurrile1567
profane1568
swearing1569
ribaldly1570
scurrilous1576
tarry1579
Fescennine verses1601
scogginly1620
ribaldrious1633
rotten in one's head1640
Billingsgate1652
promiscuous1753
blackguarding1789
blue1832
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > disregard for truth, falsehood > inaccuracy, inexactness > incorrectness of language > [adjective]
foula1400
unproperc1443
bada1522
tarry1579
vicious1589
brokena1616
tortious1644
solecistical1654
unlawful1729
solecistic1806
unidiomatica1822
anidiomatical1826
murdered1876
OE Homily: Ammonitio Amici (Ashm. 328) in A. S. Napier Wulfstan (1883) 246 Mine [read þine] earan awend fram fulre spræce and murcnunge.
c1275 (?c1250) Owl & Nightingale (Calig.) (1935) l. 285 Nere ich neuer no þe betere, Þisich [a1300 Jesus Oxf. Þeyh ich]..mid chatere Hom schende & mid fule worde.
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) iii. l. 431 (MED) So buillen up the foule sawes That Cheste wot of his felawes.
a1400 (c1303) R. Mannyng Handlyng Synne (Harl.) l. 8625 To my sawe, blame may be leyd For foule englyssh.
1477 Earl Rivers tr. Dictes or Sayengis Philosophhres (Caxton) (1877) lf. 8 Beware that..ther escape out of your mouth noo foule wordes.
1577 H. Rhodes Bk. Nurture (new ed.) sig. B.iiiv Foule speech deserues a double hate.
1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene i. v. sig. E6v The bold Semiramis..Her fowle reproches spoke.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Measure for Measure (1623) v. i. 304 In foule mouth..To call him villaine. View more context for this quotation
1751 Affecting Narr. H.M.S. Wager 32 He poured out a deal of foul Language.
1833 H. Martineau Three Ages ii. 47 The..gentlemen present had..set the fiddlers..to sing all the foul songs.
1852 C. M. Yonge Cameos xvi, in Monthly Packet July 15 Keep..your foul tongue to yourself.
?1973 R. Galton & A. Simpson Best of Steptoe & Son (1989) 139 Providing that you do not get Brahms and Liszt, and that you do not shock all those sweet old ladies there with your foul language and your dirty stories.
2021 Northampton Chron. & Echo (Nexis) 29 Jan. He was given a further match suspension for using foul and abusive language towards a match official.
17. Of something that happens to or afflicts a person: wretchedly bad or unfortunate; causing great pain or sorrow. Now archaic except in weakened use, overlapping with sense 21.
ΚΠ
c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Shipman's Tale (Hengwrt) (1871) l. 1384 God take on me vengeance As foul as euere hadde Genelon of ffrance.
1579 E. Hake Newes out of Powles Churchyarde newly Renued iii. sig. Ciiiiv Once hapt it (through a fowle mischance) that great debate did ryse Betweene a Doctor in the Law..And Doctor (eke) of Phisick.
1670 J. Milton Hist. Brit. iv. 146 Eadbald, vext with an evil Spirit, fell oft'n into foul fits of distraction.
1773 J. Chater Hist. Tom Rigby III. xii. 134 May no foul accident intervene to interrupt your joy.
1848 W. McComb Voice of Year xvi, in Poet. Wks. (1864) 132 Him who would subject thee to the sway Of Rome's foul bondage.
1983 Cruising World June 110/1 Konkolski..has had his share of foul luck throughout the voyage. He started the leg a week late.
1998 J. R. Russell tr. J. Beer German Winter Nights 63 To forgive him for having drawn down such foul misfortune through his superstition.
18. Of a person's actions or behaviour: harsh or violent in intent; characterized by cruelty or aggression. Now chiefly of someone's mood or temper: having a tendency to anger or violence at the slightest provocation.From the mid 19th century sometimes in weakened use, overlapping with sense 21.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > harmfulness > harshness > [adjective]
unmildeOE
unmeekc1175
unkindc1325
dure1412
roughc1415
foula1500
harsh1579
untender1608
unsoftened1645
kindless1659
unkind-hearted1760
uncannya1774
unkindly1787
unbeneficent1822
bad-blooded1842
half-hearted1864
brash1868
the world > action or operation > behaviour > bad behaviour > violent behaviour > [adjective] > rough > of means or procedure
foula1500
the world > action or operation > behaviour > bad behaviour > violent behaviour > [adjective] > rough > of language or expression
rougha1450
rowc1460
foul1593
a1500 (?a1450) Gesta Romanorum (Harl. 7333) (1879) 248 Tristing in him selfe that the lion wolde have I-made a foule pleye withe þe lorde & withe þe lady.
1593 W. Shakespeare Venus & Adonis sig. E Foule wordes, and frownes, must not repell a louer. View more context for this quotation
1608 Yorkshire Trag. sig. C4v A fowler strength then his Ore threw me with his armes.
1639 T. B. tr. J.-P. Camus Certain Moral Relations in S. Du Verger tr. J.-P. Camus Admirable Events 171 He would not have gathered by faire meanes or foule, that which he so impatiently desired.
1659 D. Pell Πελαγος 79 Some of you get foul checks.
1849 Dundee Courier 23 May A Reverend and anonymous contributor, overflowing with false statement, bad grammar, and foul temper.
1856 R. W. Emerson Eng. Traits xi. 192 War is a foul game.
1935 Daily Mail 20 Sept. 21/1 You know how it is mean you wake up some mornings in a foul mood.
1960 Economist 2 Jan. 25/2 Our countrymen, who were prisoners, were subjected to foul treatment.
2000 Out Nov. 88/2 Little things anger him greatly—and he immediately feels bad about his foul temper.
2009 P. Meyer Amer. Rust i. i. 10 Poe was in a foul mood and he wasn't sure what to do about it.
19.
a. Contrary to the rules or accepted practices of a game or contest; (of a player) acting contrary to the rules of a sport; committing a foul. Cf. fair adj. 14, foul play n. 2.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of play, actions, or postures > [adjective] > foul play
foul1545
1545 R. Ascham Toxophilus ii. f. 39 Of gyuyng Ame, I can not tel wel, what I shuld say. For in a straunge place it taketh away al occasion of foule game, which is ye only prayse of it.
1580 J. Lyly Euphues & his Eng. (new ed.) f. 33v Foule gamesters who hauing loste the maine.., think to face it out with a false oath.
1674 A. Cremer tr. J. Scheffer Hist. Lapland 109 Any one that is found delinquent in this kind, is branded for a fowl plaier.
1797 Sporting Mag. 9 283 His antagonist having struck him two foul blows.
1882 Field 28 Jan. (Cassell) Thus, at billiards, if a player makes a foul stroke and scores, his adversary has the option of not enforcing the penalty.
1892 J. Kent Racing Life Ld. G. C. Bentinck ii. 48 Colonel Leigh..accused Sam Chifney of foul riding.
1931 Aberdeen Press & Jrnl. 15 June 11/7 A free kick will no longer be given for a foul throw from the touch-line.
2008 Times 3 Mar. (The Game section) 2/2 Wenger said Arsenal players committed fewer fouls and were the victims of foul tackles more than any other team—although statistics over the past three years fail to support this.
b. Baseball and Softball. Of a batted ball: having landed, come to rest, been touched, etc., in foul territory (see foul territory n.), so that by rule the batter is not permitted to advance to first base. See also foul ball n. 2a.Foul balls are counted as strikes, although in most circumstances they will not be counted as a third strike causing the player to be out.
ΚΠ
1855 Spirit of Times 12 May 147/2 Three balls being struck at and missed, and the last one caught, is a hand out; if not caught, is considered fair, and the striker bound to run. Tips and foul balls do not count.
1942 J. G. T. Spink Official Baseball Bk. 163 The batsman is out on a bunt that rolls foul or flies foul and settles on foul ground if the attempted bunt is made on the third strike.
2020 R. Bielman Hot Shot (e-book, accessed 15 Mar. 2021) vii Finn swings on the next pitch, makes contact, but it flies foul.
ΚΠ
1841 N.Y. Tribune 15 July 2/5 Reynolds being caught ‘fowl’ as the parlance is, confessed he stole the pocket-book, and money, and stated that he was alone in the transaction.
1846 Lives of Felons 10 As soon as White saw that his accomplice was ‘foul’, he took advantage of the momentary surprise of the storekeeper and his clerks, to dart out into the street and effect his escape.
1872 G. P. Burnham Mem. U.S. Secret Service 110 [He] ‘squealed’ before the Chief, and owned up that the U.S.S. Service men ‘had him foul’, at last.
1924 H. W. Coates Handsomest Man in Kentucky 3 He was forced to snuff out the life of Bob Berthuram, and though Bob was caught foul,..the Berthuram clan turned their hands against him.
21. colloquial. Extremely unpleasant or disagreeable; awful, horrid, nasty. Cf. beastly adj. 5.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > inferiority or baseness > foulness or filth > [adjective]
blackOE
rotea1382
lousyc1386
unwashed?a1390
fulsomec1390
filthy?c1400
rankc1400
leprousa1425
sicka1425
miry1532
shitten?1545
murrain1575
obscene1597
vicious1597
ketty1607
putrid1628
putredinous1641
foede1657
fulsamic1694
carrion1826
foul1842
shitty1879
scabrous1880
scummy1932
pukey1933
shitting1950
gungy1962
grungy1965
shithouse1966
grot1967
bogging1973
the mind > emotion > hatred > dislike > disgust > [adjective] > disgusting or repulsive
fulsomec1510
distasteful1607
stinkardly1616
reluctant1663
disgustful1678
fulsamic1694
disgusteda1716
disgustive1740
revolting1773
disgustable1787
repulsive1791
disgusting1839
foul1842
vomitorial1868
untouchable1873
icky1938
gross1959
grody1965
yechy1969
yucky1970
yuck1971
yuck-making1972
gross-out1973
skeevy1976
sleazoid1976
skanky1982
festy1995
mug2009
1842 L. Hunt Palfrey 41 Now a murrain, I say, on these foul old men!
1911 D. Coke Wilson's vi. 59 I was stopping somebody making a foul row.
1926 N. Coward This was a Man iii. 211 Carol: How can you be so foul! Edward (wearily): Oh, Carol, do stop acting.
1993 J. Green It: Sex since Sixties 55 Lying, cheating, Really foul. Trying to slip the leash altogether. Horrible little bitch.
2021 @keepitkashin 14 Mar. in twitter.com (accessed 15 Mar. 2021) This world can be so foul.
III. Clogged, obstructed, entangled.
22. Clogged, encumbered, or obstructed with foreign matter.
a. Of land, esp. arable land: overgrown with weeds; choked with grasses and other plants which impede the growing of crops. In early use also of a crop grown on land compromised in this way. Cf. clean adj. 2b. Now rare.
ΚΠ
1473 in C. Rogers Rental Bk. Cupar-Angus (1879) I. 176 Thar land at is foule, tha sal mak labur with diligent cwre to clenge it.
1572 J. Higgins Huloets Dict. (rev. ed.) Fowle corn, being full of weedis.
1793 Trans. Soc. Arts (ed. 2) 5 77 Ground that is either foul of weeds or grass.
1809 Med. & Physical Jrnl. 21 75 Swamps, muddy banks, and foul shores.
1937 Times 29 Nov. 20/1 Consecutive wheat crops make the land foul, and it is usually on the score of weeds that continuous wheat growing has broken down in the past.
1967 Proc. Royal Soc. B. 167 142 In the past the main drawback to continuous corn growing was that the land became foul with weeds.
b. Of a gun barrel, a chimney, etc.: full of or obstructed by deposits of dirt or filth, debris, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > place > presence > fact of taking up space > [adjective] > full > full to obstruction
foul1579
congested1862
jammed1887
clogged1889
society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > device for discharging missiles > firearm > parts and fittings of firearms > [adjective] > attributes of barrel
foul1579
ring-bored1835
multi-choke1951
1579 T. Churchyard Gen. Rehearsall Warres sig. M.iijv Suche as serues at home, and can not goe out of the vewe of a faire house, and Smoke of a foule Chimney, snatcheth vp good tournes.
1643 W. Gosling Seasonable Advice preventing Mischiefe of Fire (single sheet) Some Townes were burnt by Maultkills: some by Candles in Stables: or by foule Chimnies.
1656 R. Wild Arraignm. Sinner 32 Their guilt (like a foul and rusty Gun) recoyles and flyes in their owne faces.
1805 W. Saunders Treat. Mineral Waters (ed. 2) 32 The scourings of a foul gun barrel.
1859 F. Nightingale Notes on Nursing ii. 17 If your chimney is foul, sweep it.
1865 Meliora 8 231 For the stings of wasps and scorpions the oil scraped out of a foul tobacco pipe eases the pain.
1961 Financial Times 29 Sept. 18/1 On this day in 1902 Emile Zola was found asphyxiated in his own apartment as a result of a foul chimney.
2005 M. Jakubait & M. Weller Ruth Ellis (e-book ed.) xi The barrel was foul and consistent with having been recently fired.
c. Nautical. Of a ship: having the bottom overgrown with seaweed, barnacles, etc. Also of the ship's bottom itself. Cf. clean adj. 3b.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > vessel with reference to qualities or attributes > [adjective] > having clean or dirty bottom
foul1591
clean1666
1591 W. Raleigh Rep. Fight Iles of Açores sig. C2 The ships growne foule, vnroomaged, and scarcely able to beare anie saile for want of balast.
1683 W. Hacke Coll. Orig. Voy. (1699) i. 23 Yet she out-sailed us, she being clean and we as foul as we could be.
1790 R. Beatson Naval & Mil. Mem. 405 The Monmouth now became very foul and leaky.
1890 Rep. Sec. of Navy 1889 (U.S. Govt.) II. 570 The trial trips of the Boston and Atlanta furnish striking examples of the serious disadvantages of a foul bottom.
1924 G. H. P. Muhlhauser Cruise of Amaryllis (1925) vi. 248 She was clean and the copper was in very fair condition on the whole; but the keel was foul and encrusted with barnacles and oysters.
2006 Warship Internat. 43 101/6 Neptune herself went into a dock on the 10th to clean her foul bottom and did not undock until the 16th.
23. Nautical.
a. That has collided or become entangled with another vessel, an obstacle floating in the water, etc. Frequently with of, (formerly also) on, upon, now usually in to fall foul of, to run foul of (see Phrases 1a(a)(i), Phrases 1b(a)).Recorded earliest in to fall foul of.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > action or motion of vessel > [adjective] > entangled
foul1588
1588 Packe of Spanish Lyes 11/1 The Captaine of the Galeasses had a great mischance: for getting vp her Anker, a Cable fel foule of her Helme, that she could not follow the rest.
1595 H. Roberts Lancaster his Allarums sig. C3v One of the spanish shippes..arriued at Breast in Brittaine, the other by mischance comming foule of an other shippe was broken down to the water which our men left in the sea.
1697 W. Dampier New Voy. around World x. 303 She..coming foul of the same shole..was in great danger of being lost.
1743 J. Bulkeley & J. Cummins Voy. to South-seas 115 In weighing the Grapenel..we found it foul among some Rocks.
1748 B. Robins & R. Walter Voy. round World by Anson i. i. 10 And we were in no small danger of driving foul of the Prince Frederick.
1867 Naut. Mag. & Naval Chron. Aug. 411 As there was every chance of her drifting foul of us, a boat was sent away to help in towing her clear.
1986 H. Benham Smugglers' Cent. iv. 50 Not two hundred yards from the shore, the Walpole drove foul of the Royal Caroline, doing some damage.
b. Of an anchor, cable, hawse, etc.: entangled or obstructed, esp. as the result of the action of another vessel. Frequently in foul hawse.Recorded earliest in foul anchor n. See also foul berth n.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > berthing, mooring, or anchoring > [noun] > action, fact, or opportunity of anchoring > specific manner or condition of
hawse1597
foul1754
foul hawse1769
running moor1883
1754 A. Berthelson Eng. & Danish Dict. A foul anchor, et uklart anker.
1769 W. Falconer Universal Dict. Marine Tour de cable, a foul hawse; a turn or elbow in the hawse.
1829 F. Marryat Naval Officer III. iv. 103 Topsail-tie is foul.
1840 R. H. Dana Two Years before Mast vii. 16 We [sc. the ship] were continually swinging round, and had thus got a very foul hawse.
1901 W. H. Winslow Sea Let. iii. 37 Many vessels were untwisting foul cables and getting underway.
2020 @DownNorth 30 Jan. in twitter.com (accessed 15 Mar. 2021) Hard spot in fall with northerly or north east winds. Had foul hawse in there one fall. Oh didn't I curse!.
24. Nautical. Of a coast or the bottom of a stretch of water: rocky and uneven, posing a hazard to ships. Chiefly in foul bottom, foul coast, foul ground.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > water > sea or ocean > region of sea or ocean > [noun] > rocky undersea tract
foul bottom1598
foul ground1598
rim1795
scar1823
sunker1896
the world > the earth > land > land mass > shore or bank > seashore or coast > [noun] > hazardous
foul coast1717
1598 W. Phillip tr. J. H. van Linschoten Disc. Voy. E. & W. Indies iii. xx. 338/1 Not to fal towards ye south side of the mouth of the straight, with the ride that runneth ther, for you haue many depths and foule ground, you must alwaies hold on ye North side.
1622 R. Hawkins Observ. Voiage South Sea xxxii. 77 The Norther part of the Bay hath foule ground, and rocks vnder water.
1717 tr. A. F. Frézier Voy. South-Sea 293 The Sea running high..made us fear, because the Coast is foul.
1808 R. Forsyth Beauties Scotl. V. 515 The navigation of the Sound of Ilay is dangerous..from foul ground.
1874 F. G. D. Bedford Sailor's Pocket Bk. v. 122 The launch should be sent in the direction of the foul ground.
1918 W. Indies Pilot (U.S. Hydrographic Office) (ed. 3) I. 340 Boston Bay..has a foul bottom, except in its southwestern corner.
2007 Hist. Archaeol. 41 40/1 A shipwreck was recognized on a side-scan sonar image in an area of foul ground known locally as the ‘Frenchman’.
Phrases
P1. As the complement of particular verbs.
a. to fall foul.† (b) With plural subject. To argue, quarrel; to come to blows. Obsolete.† (c) With on, upon. To attack, assault, assail (a person). Obsolete.
(a) Followed by a prepositional phrase. Now usually in to fall foul of, (also) to fall foul with, (formerly) †to fall foul on (also upon).
(i) Nautical. To collide or become entangled with another vessel, an obstacle floating in the water, etc.; = to run foul of (see Phrases 1b(a)(i)).
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > action or motion of vessel > [verb (intransitive)] > collide with something
to fall foul1588
1588 Packe of Spanish Lyes 11/1 The Captaine of the Galeasses had a great mischance: for getting vp her Anker, a Cable fel foule of her Helme, that she could not follow the rest.
1590 tr. P. Ubaldini Disc. Spanishe inuading Eng. 1588 20 By meanes of this tumult and confusion..the cheefe Galliasse fell foule with another ship, vpon the cable of whose anker her sterne was set so fast, that they could not loose her al the night long.
1614 W. S. in T. Overbury et al. Wife now Widdow Newes from Sea sig. G4 A mans companions are (like ships) to be kept in distance, for falling foule one of another.
1677 J. Phillips tr. J.-B. Tavernier Persian Trav. ii. i. 53 in tr. J.-B. Tavernier Six Voy. (1678) Both the Ships Company began to cry out, for fear of falling foul one upon another.
1745 P. Thomas True Jrnl. Voy. South-Seas 284 The Prize..fell foul with her Head on our Starboard Quarter.
1840 Examiner 8 Nov. 708/2 The Howe, adrift as she was with her anchor and cable at the bottom, might have fallen foul of other ships at anchor.
1908 Times 30 Nov. 16/6 The vessel, in making Dover harbour yesterday morning, fell foul of the southern breakwater, and there is known to be a considerable rent in her bows.
2020 TVEyes (Nexis) 19 Oct. In 1941, a convoy of 20 British ships, being escorted by destroyers, was making its way through these waters when one fell foul of a sandbank.
(ii) To come into conflict with someone or something; esp. to attract the scrutiny or sanction of the law, the police, or another authority.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > dissent > be in dissension or at variance [verb (intransitive)] > clash or come into conflict
to fall foul1601
jar1621
clash1622
collide1864
1601 B. Jonson Every Man in his Humor iv. i. sig. I.v Lo. We were now speaking of him, signior Bobadillo telles me he is fallen foule of you two. Mat. Oh I sir, he threatned me with the bastinado.
1630 M. Godwin tr. F. Godwin Ann. Eng. i. 61 Henry must of necessity fall foule with the Emperour.
1675 A. Roberts tr. D. Vairasse d'Allais Hist. Sevarites I. ii. 10 When we perceived how little they regarded us, and how speedily they fell foul of one another, we were well pleased.
1725 T. Nevin Tryal T. Nevin 139 Calvinists 'emselves must fall Foul of one another too, for some of 'em have charg'd others with Blasphemy.
1871 R. H. Hutton Ess. (ed. 2) I. 80 So that we may not..fall foul of the forces..of that infinite world.
1934 Times 2 Oct. 20/2 Two strong men of such different characters were bound to fall foul of each other.
2002 Dartmoor Visitor Summer 7/4 You will not fall foul of local bye-laws as long as you keep to the simple commonsense camping code.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > dissent > quarrel or quarrelling > quarrel [verb (intransitive)]
threapc1175
disputea1225
thretec1400
varyc1450
fray1465
to fall out1470
to set (or fall) at variancec1522
quarrel1530
square1530
to break a straw1542
to be or to fall at (a) square1545
to fall at jar1552
cowl1556
tuilyie1565
jarl1580
snarl1597
to fall foul1600
to cast out1730
fisticuff1833
spat1848
cagmag1882
rag1889
to part brass-rags1898
hassle1949
blue1955
1600 W. Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 2 ii. iv. 166 Shall we fall foule for toies?
1668 S. Pepys Diary 12 Jan. (1976) IX. 20 We fell very foul.
1683 R. Dixon Canidia App. i. 204 Sententiaries, Casuists, Fall foul together with Clubs and Fists.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > hostile action or attack > make an attack upon [verb (transitive)]
assail?c1225
to set on ——c1290
saila1300
to turn one's handc1325
lashc1330
to set against ——c1330
impugnc1384
offendc1385
weighc1386
checka1400
to lay at?a1400
havec1400
to set at ——c1430
fraya1440
rehetea1450
besail1460
fray1465
tuilyie1487
assaulta1500
enterprise?1510
invade1513
sturt1513
attempt1546
lay1580
tilt1589
to fall aboard——1593
yoke1596
to let into1598
to fall foul1602
attack1655
do1780
to go in at1812
to pitch into ——1823
tackle1828
vampire1832
bushwhack1837
to go for ——1838
take1864
pile1867
volcano1867
to set about ——1879
vampirize1888
to get stuck into1910
to take to ——1911
weigh1941
rugby-tackle1967
rugger-tackle1967
the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > hostile action or attack > make an attack upon [verb (transitive)] > attack with hostile words or measures
fangc1320
hurtlec1374
impugnc1384
weighc1386
to fall upon ——a1398
to start on ——a1398
oppugn?1435
to lay to, untoa1500
onseta1522
wipe1523
to set against ——1542
to fall aboard——1593
aggress1596
to fall foul1602
attack1613
appugn1615
to set upon ——1639
to fall on ——1641
to lay home, hard, hardly to1650
tack1720
bombard1766
savage1796
to pitch into ——1823
to begin upon a personc1825
bulldog1842
to down on (also upon)a1848
to set at ——1849
to start on ——a1851
to start in on1859
set on at or to1862
to let into1872
to go for ——1890
swash1890
slog1891
to get at ——1893
tee1955
1602 T. Lodge tr. Josephus Hist. Antiq. Iewes xv. xi, in tr. Josephus Wks. 402 They intended to assaile him vnawares, at leastwise if they failed of him, their hope was to fall foule on some of his fauourites and followers.
1611 J. Speed Hist. Great Brit. vii. xliv. 376/1 Yet fell they [sc. the Danes] so foule vpon Essex..that the King was enforced to compound a peace.
a1661 T. Fuller Worthies (1662) Yorks. 207 John Bale..falleth foul on all Fryers.
1700 J. Dryden Fables Pref. sig. *Dv I have fallen foul on Priesthood.
1726 tr. J. Cavalier Mem. Wars Cevennes iv. 338 I fell foul upon them..and put them to flight.
1846 W. S. Landor Imaginary Conversat. in Wks. I. 116/2 You fall foul upon our miracles and our saints.
b. to run foul.
(a) Followed by a prepositional phrase. Now only in to run foul of, (formerly also) †to run foul on (also upon).
(i) Nautical. To collide or become entangled with another vessel, an obstacle floating in the water, etc. Also in extended use. Cf. to run afoul at afoul adv., foul v.1 7b, 7c.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > action or motion of vessel > [verb (transitive)] > collide with
to run foul1596
to run aboard ——?1606
to run aboard1708
to fall on board (of)1797
foul1828
1596 tr. Deligtful Hist. Celestina xi. 87 Part of them were forced to flie disorderly, and run foule one of another.
1623 G. Fletcher Reward of Faithfull ii. iv. 194 All which rocks of danger & ill husbandry religion..neuer suffers any that saile in Noahs Arke, I meane in Gods church for want of a right steering their vessels to run foule vpon.
1687 A. Lovell tr. J. de Thévenot Trav. into Levant i. 228 On Wednesday..a Polaque fell in among us,..running foul of our Sanbiquer.
1748 B. Robins & R. Walter Voy. round World by Anson i. i. 10 Two of the transports,..in tacking, ran foul of each other.
1820 W. Scoresby Acct. Arctic Regions II. 477 The John, running foul of a piece of ice.
1830 M. R. Mitford Our Village IV. 144 The Frenchman can't drive..; he'd as nearly as possible run foul of my pigs.
1914 E. Scott Life Capt. Matthew Flinders xii. 197 The run across the Indian Ocean was uneventful, except that the ship ran foul of a whale apparently sleeping on the water.
2000 C. Hibbert Queen Victoria (new ed.) i. v. 37 The royal party..were sailing in the Emerald, tender of the royal yacht, the Royal George, when the ship ran foul of a hulk and broke her mast.
(ii) To come into conflict with someone or something; esp. to attract the scrutiny or sanction of the law, the police, or another authority; = to fall foul of (see Phrases 1a(a)(ii)).
ΚΠ
1667 T. Tomkins Inconveniencies Toleration 28 Nothing but the fear of a common Enemy..is able to keep the Godly of all Judgments from running foul one upon another.
1758 T. Smollett Compl. Hist. Eng. IV. ix. i. 459 Some warm altercation passed between him and Mr. Stanhope... Mr. Hungerford..said, he was sorry to see two such great men running foul of one another.
1845 C. F. Mercer Expos. Weakness & Inefficiency Govt. U.S. xxvi. 232 Without fear of either failing or running foul of a law.
1873 S. J. MacKenna Plucky Fellows 184 That younker is bound to run foul of our boss; and ef he do, he'll run foul of an uncommon hard-grit man.
1932 Times Lit. Suppl. 27 Oct. 792/4 He ran foul of the most powerful gang in New York and the police at the same time.
2002 W. Woodruff Road to Nab End (2003) 77 Selma's father had run foul of the law as a boy.
(b) Distilling. Of a still: to produce contaminated liquid, esp. by boiling over into the receiver. Also: (of liquid flowing in a still) to contain contaminants. Now chiefly historical.
ΚΠ
1725 G. Smith Compl. Body Distilling i. 72 Increasing or heightening the heat..wou'd unavoidably make your Still run foul.
1800 Philos. Mag. 6 162 To lessen the possibility of the still running foul, and to hasten the escape and consequent condensation of the vapour.
1882 A. J. Shilton Househ. Chem. 133 It is usual for the distiller to add a quantity of soap to the liquid to prevent its ‘running foul’, i.e., boiling over into the receiver.
1980 J. Cross In Grandmother's Day xvii. 186/2 If, on the contrary, a dull sound is produced by the sounding, then the still is running foul.
c. to play foul: see play v. 17a(c).
P2. Other phrases.† a. for fairer, for fouler: in the context of marriage vows, expressing commitment regardless of what may happen; for better or for worse (see worse adj. and n. Phrases 3b). Obsolete.
ΚΠ
a1438 Bk. Margery Kempe (1940) i. 87 (MED) I take þe, Margery, for my weddyd whfe, for fayrar, for fowelar, for richar, for powerar.
1509 Manuale Ecclesie Eboracensis sig. c.vi Here I take the..to my wedded wyfe, to haue and to holde at Bedde, and at Borde, For fayrer, for fouler.
b. to cry foul: to protest strongly about a real or imagined wrong or injustice.Apparently deriving from the practice in boxing of appealing to the referee that one's opponent has landed a foul blow (see, e.g., quot. 1836).
ΚΠ
1836 Bell's Life in London 20 Nov. Mansell was hit when he had one knee and one hand nearly on the ground; he cried foul, and appealed to the Referee.]
1839 Chartist 9 June 4/1 When he betted one of the halfpence could be seen under the hand, and he cried ‘foul’.
1914 F. Scott-Maxwell Flash-point ii. 67 We women, whom you say interfere, cry ‘Foul’ against your treatment of your own women.
1990 Compact Disc 7 Aug. 60/2 In the Fifties, when Charlie Parker and other bop stars recorded improvisations against lush string backgrounds, the purists cried foul.
2021 Frontier Star (Pakistan) (Nexis) 11 Feb. (headline) Opposition parties to cry foul if upcoming elections of Senate not held through open vote.
c. by fair means or foul: see fair means n. frost and fraud have foul ends: see foul n. to be a foul way out: see way n.1 and int.1 Phrases 7d.
Compounds
C1. With present participles, forming adjectives in which foul expresses the complement of the underlying verb, esp. in foul-smelling, (also) foul-looking, foul-tasting, etc. Cf. foul-stinking adj.
ΚΠ
1594 W. Shakespeare Lucrece sig. F4 O night thou furnace of fowle reeking smoke. View more context for this quotation
1807 Morning Post 26 Nov. The foul smelling creature.
1884 Raleigh (N. Carolina) Reg. 3 Dec. Murky, foul-smelling and foul-tasting water.
1909 Nottingham Evening Post 23 Aug. 5/3 [He] dived into the foul-looking water beneath.
1925 J. Grant Amos's Processes Flour Manuf. (new ed.) v. 34 Another form of smut, developing inside the grains, and filling them with foul-smelling black powder.
2000 K. Charles Cruel Habitations (2001) iv. 53 Jacquie knocked back the foul-tasting local wine.
2010 Sci. Amer. (U.K. ed.) Sept. 40/2 Much of the body's muscle and fat has been reduced to a foul-smelling, liquidy pastelike substance.
C2.
a. Forming adjectives with the sense ‘that has (a) foul ——’, by combining with a noun +-ed, as in foul-aired, foul-breathed, foul-faced, etc. Cf. foul-minded adj., foul-mouthed adj., foul-tempered adj., foul-tongued adj.
ΚΠ
1600 C. Sutton Disce Mor.i ii. 60 This foule headed Panther Sathan.
1606 Returne from Pernassus i. i. sig. A4 Then foule faced Vice was in his swadling bands.
1610 J. Healey tr. St. Augustine Citie of God xix. x. 765 The holy..seruants of the true God..liue in this..foule-browed world.
1781 G. Parker View Society & Manners I. xvii. 135 In pairs they range around the foul-air'd place.
1792 T. Holcroft Anna St. Ives V. cvii. 140 I cannot forget this keeper. He is a foul-faced fellow!
1834 Tait's Edinb. Mag. New Ser. 1 494 The venomous slaver..must be carried back to the face of the foul-breathed ejector.
1883 Cent. Mag. 26 213 The whole place unclean and foul-aired.
1917 N.Y. Times 17 Aug. 2/6 Twelve foul-odored, sweaty, lice-filled coaches, crowded with rags and misery.
1974 Sunday Tel. 22 Sept. 8/2 By day I dozed in the foul-aired prison room.
2020 MailOnline (Nexis) 27 Sept. I feel like death. Bloated, frenzied and foul-breathed, I'm drinking and smoking to keep going.
b.
foul thighed adj. now rare (of a domestic pigeon) having feathers on the thighs or legs that are of more than one colour, rather than entirely white.
ΚΠ
1735 J. Moore Columbarium 35 Let it [sc. another colour] fall here, or on any other Part of the Thigh, he is foul thigh'd.
1876 Country 6 Jan. 12/1 Most of the birds in this class were too slender in the forehead and beak, and many were foul thighed.
1976 Amer. Pigeon Jrnl. July 455/1 These birds, if they have snow white thighs, are handy in corrective mating for foul thighed birds.
C3. † foul-cut adj. Obsolete rare (of a horse) that has been incompletely gelded (cf. sense 12).
foul anchor n. Nautical an anchor which has become hooked on or entangled in some obstruction, e.g. a ship's cable, a wreck on the sea bed, or another anchor; esp. the image of this used in the crest of the British Admiralty and other naval insignia.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > indication > insignia > [noun] > specific emblems, badges, or cognizances > others
cocklestone1591
Rosy Cross1621
toison d'or1704
greyhound1747
foul anchor1754
red cross1866
Geneva cross1870
Tammany tiger1871
fasces1889
waist-plate1902
blue star1917
gold star1917
red ribbon1990
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > equipment of vessel > anchoring equipment > [noun] > anchor > hooking or entangling other tackle
foul anchor1754
fouled anchor1848
1754 A. Berthelson Eng. & Danish Dict. A foul anchor, et uklart anker.
1775 E. Thompson Fair Quaker (ed. 2) ii. ii. 26 But it is a foul anchor, Mizen, which exposes your seamanship.
1840 R. H. Dana Two Years before Mast xiii. 31 On one of his broad arms he had the crucifixion, and on the other the sign of the ‘foul anchor’.
1955 All Hands Oct. 28 (heading) Here's how the Navy got its foul anchor and other insignia.
2007 Mil. Images 28 5/1 It is not possible to see the ornament on the front of the cap, but there should be two stars over a foul anchor in the wreath of live oak leaves.
foul berth n. Nautical the situation in which a vessel's berth is obstructed or encumbered by another vessel anchoring in its hawse, i.e. in the space between the head of a vessel and the anchor; typically in to give (a vessel) a foul berth, to give a foul berth to.
ΚΠ
1832 Minutes of Evid. before Lords Comm. Bill for amending Town Quay of Gravesend 97 in Parl. Papers 1831–2 (H.L. 125) CCCXII. 1 If he is a civil Man he usually gets under weigh if he has given another a foul Berth.
1858 Cases Vice-admiralty Court Lower Canada 75 The Cumberland..and gave a foul berth to the Cornwallis.
1934 Courier & Advertiser (Dundee) 17 Feb. 4/4 Loss and damage sustained by pursuers' steamship Tynesider in the beginning of April 1932 through being given a foul berth at Beckett's Quay at defenders' works.
2003 S. J. Hazelwood & A. Tettenborn Marsden on Collisions at Sea (ed. 13) vi. 176 If a ship gives another a foul berth she cannot require the latter to take extraordinary precautions to avoid a collision.
foul bill n. now historical and rare short for foul bill of health n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > [noun] > certificate of illness
foul bill of health1721
foul bill1759
aegrotat1794
aeger1852
1759 A. Bruce Inq. into Cause Pestilence iii. 67 Captains Gabriel, and Ailland arriving from the Levant, with foul bills, their goods were also sent thither.
1879 London Gaz. 12 Aug. 4900/1 Ships coming from the United States of America shall henceforth be considered as having a foul bill on account of yellow fever.
1952 Osiris 10 233 He..criticized the bills of health as depending upon the reports of Greek merchants who selfishly sought to impose foul bills.
foul bill of health n. now historical a certificate confirming the presence of infectious disease on a ship or in the port from which it has sailed; cf. bill of health n. at bill n.3 Compounds 1.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > [noun] > certificate of illness
foul bill of health1721
foul bill1759
aegrotat1794
aeger1852
1721 tr. Hist. Acct. Plague Marseilles 5 The 12th of June, Captain Gabriel's Ship arrived here with a foul Bill of Health from the same places.
1859 P. Beaton Creoles & Coolies iv. 157 Accommodation provided for those who, from having a foul bill of health, might be prevented from landing.
1924 Amer. Jrnl. Internat. Law 18 38 A foul bill of health is one which shows the presence of non-imported cases of any of the diseases referred to in Art. 23.
2012 B. Bulmus Plague, Quarantines & Geopolitics Ottoman Empire vi. 142 In Smyrna, a vessel arrived from Alexandria with a foul bill of health, and cholera spread to the city after a patient was brought to the lazaretto.
foul biting n. Etching the collapse of the ground, allowing the acid to attack the plate in an indiscriminate and uncontrolled manner, causing dots or irregular areas to appear on prints.The collapse can result from imperfections in the ground, the plate being left in the acid bath too long, or lines being etched too close together.
ΚΠ
1806 G. Gregory Dict. Arts & Sci. I. 655/3 Otherwise you will have parts bitten that were not intended, which is called foul-biting.
1929 Bull. Art Inst. Chicago 23 57/1 The latter is spotty, spoiled by foul biting, but fortunately the head is not marred.
2012 Master Drawings 50 540/2 The artist employed controlled open biting to achieve tonality, formerly misunderstood as foul biting.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > family Equidae (general equines) > horse defined by gender or age > [adjective] > not castrated > imperfectly castrated
foul-cut1811
1811 Sporting Mag. Aug. 213/1 It was a foul-cut horse. It acted like a stallion.
foul evil n. now historical and rare any of various disorders characterized esp. by (supposed) putrefaction or by the production of pus or malodorous excretions; esp. epilepsy and syphilis.The use of this name for epilepsy may have arisen because of the occurrence of urinary or faecal incontinence during seizures; cf. also quot. a1398, which refers to the passage of excessive quantities of urine.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of internal organs > venereal disease > [noun] > syphilis
foul evila1398
grandgore1497
French disease1503
French pox1503
pox1503
great pocka1519
great pox1529
morbus gallicus1543
gore1554
marbles1592
verol1596
Spanish pox1600
verola1600
the foul evil1607
bube1608
grincome1608
Neapolitan1631
lues1634
scabbado1651
venereal syphilis1653
foul disease1680
gout1694
syphilid1829
syphiloid1833
syphiloderma1850
vaccino-syphilis1868
neurosyphilis1878
old ral1878
syph1914
bejel1928
cosmic disease-
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of internal organs > convulsive or paralytic disorders > [noun] > fit or stroke > epilepsy
brothfallc1175
foul evila1398
the falling evila1400
falling gouta1400
land-evilc1440
falling sickness1485
epilency1495
falling-ill1561
comitial fit1562
St John's disease1574
epilepsy1578
falling disease1580
St John's evil1605
epilepse1804
sacred malady-
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) I. vii. lv. 410 To hem þat haueþ þis foule euel [sc. diampnes oþir diabetica passio] þinges þat slakeþ hete beþ nedeful.
c1400 (?a1387) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Huntington HM 137) (1873) C. iv. l. 96 God on hem sendeþ Feueres oþer fouler hyueles [emended in ed. to yueles].
1483 W. Caxton tr. J. de Voragine Golden Legende f. ccclxvi*/2 There was a man..whiche hadde an horryble maladye, that he fylle of the fowle euylle wel sex tymes in a day.
a1549 A. Borde Fyrst Bk. Introd. Knowl. (1870) ii. 127 As ‘the foule euyll’, whyche is the fallyng syckenes, is at the ende of euery skottysh mans tale.
1578 H. Lyte tr. R. Dodoens Niewe Herball i. lxiii. 93 The vse of Plantayne is good..against Cankers, Fistulas, & the foule euill or French Pockes, and all scuruinesse.
1607 E. Topsell Hist. Foure-footed Beastes 732 The disease called the Foule-euill.
1975 B. Clarke Mental Disorder in Earlier Brit. viii. 214 (note) The medical ‘saints’ mentioned included Ipacre for the ague and Cornellis for the foul evil.
foul papers n. now chiefly historical a draft or working manuscript; esp. the playwright's working copy of a play's text, as opposed to a fair copy presented to the prompter, printer, or licenser.In later use chiefly with reference to the works and textual and theatrical practices of Shakespeare and his contemporaries.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > writing > written text > [noun] > preliminary or rough copy
draught1528
rough draft1576
foul papers1601
rough copy1638
essay1656
concept1658
draft1769
upset1841
1601 W. Cornwallis Ess. II. xxvi. sig. O6v The many idle lines of Louers, who haue made many foule Papers, for the sakes of their faire Mistresse.
c1625 in Library (1925) 4th Ser. 6 152 The Booke where by it was first Acted from is lost: and this hath beene transcribed from the fowle papers of the Authors wch were found.
a1729 W. Congreve Let. in C. Wilson Mem. Life W. Congreve (1730) 141 Six years after his Death..from his foul Papers, truly so called, muster up seven very stupid Letters upon the Sentiments of the two first Acts of Cato.
1932 Rev. Eng. Stud. 8 226 (note) It is composed of Heywood's foul papers.
2006 G. Ioppolo Dramatists & their Manuscripts in Age of Shakespeare 104 Succeeding scholars who have examined the manuscript in person have largely accepted Greg's claims that Hand D represents Shakespeare's foul papers.
foul water n. Nautical muddy water, created by a ship's keel running close to the bottom in shallows and churning up sand, etc., through its motion; also in to make foul water.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > action or motion of vessel > [verb (intransitive)] > sail in shoal water
to make foul water1653–4
shoal1803
1627 J. Smith Sea Gram. ix. 44 Fowle water is when she comes into shallow water where shee raises the sand or ose with her way.
1653–4 B. Whitelocke Jrnl. Swedish Ambassy (1772) I. 132 [The ship]..made fowle water by striking as she passed over the Riffe.
1780 Falconer's Universal Dict. Marine (rev. ed.) Transl. French Terms Eau changée, foul water; or water whose colour is changed by approaching the shore, or otherwise.
1881 Naval Encycl. 463/2 A ship makes foul water when the water is so shallow that her keel stirs up the mud.
1982 L. Lind Sea Jargon 98/1 Make foul water, to stir the mud on the seabed with the ship's keel or propellers.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2021; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
foulv.1
/faʊl/, U.S. /faʊl/ I. To become dirty; to make (something) dirty; to deface.
1. intransitive. To become foul, dirty, or putrid. In Old English often specifically: to decompose after death.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > dirtiness > corruption or putridness > become corrupt or putrid [verb (intransitive)]
forrota900
foulOE
rotOE
rank?a1300
corrumpc1374
to-rota1382
putrefya1400
mourkenc1400
corruptc1405
festerc1475
decay1574
rankle1612
tainta1616
decompose1793
wrox1847
the world > matter > condition of matter > bad condition of matter > deteriorate in condition [verb (intransitive)] > rot or putrefy
forrota900
foulOE
rotOE
rank?a1300
corrumpc1374
to-rota1382
putrefya1400
mourkenc1400
corruptc1405
festerc1475
rottena1500
decay1574
rankle1612
tainta1616
moth1624
ret1846
wrox1847
OE Acct. Voy. Ohthere & Wulfstan in tr. Orosius Hist. (Tiber.) (1980) i. i. 17 Þy þær licgað þa deadan men swa lange & ne fuliað.
OE King Ælfred tr. Psalms (Paris) (2001) xxxvii. 5 Mine wunda rotedan and fuledon for minum dysige.
a1200 MS Trin. Cambr. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1873) 2nd Ser. 37 Sume men ladeð here lif on etinge and on drinkinge alse swin, þe uulieð.
1691 T. Hale Acct. New Inventions 41 So apt to foul, or difficult to clean as Wood.
1883 L. A. Bernays Cultural Industries Queensland 55 Candles made from it [sc. coco-nut oil] are very superior, the light which they give being brilliant, the flame colourless, while the wick never fouls.
2006 A. W. Chuan Mini Sci. Encycl. (ed. 5) iv. 30/1 As the water fouls easily, it is best to leave the bottom empty for easy cleaning.
2.
a. intransitive. To void excrement, to defecate. Usually of animals, now typically with reference to dogs leaving excrement on paths, pavements, etc. (cf. sense 2b).
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > dirtiness > dirt > dirtiness or soiling with specific kinds of dirt > be or become dirty or soiled with specific kinds of dirt [verb (intransitive)] > dirty with excrement
foula1400
bulbitate1623
a1400 (a1325) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Trin. Cambr.) (1887) l. 5898 Foulede [c1325 Calig. Vor þat child fuled in is hond].
1484 W. Caxton tr. G. de la Tour-Landry Bk. Knight of Tower (1971) lxxx. 109 It fortuned that the swalowe dyd foule within the eyen of Thobye.
1652 A. Ross Hist. World iii. i. 120 He was called Copronymus from fouling in the Font when hee was baptized, which some held as a presage that he would pollute Religion.
1814 J. Gilchrist Reason 56 Thus they croaked, and crawled, and spawned, and fouled.
1975 Gardeners Chron. 17 Jan. 26/1 Most dogs, when they could, fouled on the open ground opposite the verges as was confirmed by the complaints from the groundsmen.
2020 Liverpool Echo (Nexis) 17 Feb. (National ed. 1) Every area you go to has problems with dogs fouling on pavements.
b. transitive. To void excrement on (an area, place, etc.). Usually of an animal, now typically with reference to dogs leaving excrement on paths, pavements, etc. (cf. sense 2a).
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > dirtiness > dirt > dirtiness or soiling with specific kinds of dirt > dirty or soil with specific kinds of dirt [verb (transitive)] > dirty with excrement
beshiteOE
bedo?c1225
soil1297
bedungc1450
beray1575
foul1588
becack1598
bescumber1598
bemute1634
immerd1635
conskite1653
crap1846
pooh1989
1588 R. Parke tr. J. G. de Mendoza Comm. Notable Thinges in tr. J. G. de Mendoza Hist. Kingdome of China 17 Three or foure necessarie or common places of ease..for that the people being troubled with their common necessitie shall not foule the streetes.
1644 F. Quarles Whipper Whipt 14 How willingly can a dog foule the roome, and how loath to have his nose rubbed in it?
1763 A. Tucker Freewill 157 When the puppy dog foul your parlour you beat him for it.
1889 G. F. Morant in C. Rayson Bk. of Rabbit xviii. 447 300 hutches could hold 1800 rabbits. They would never foul the ground or waste a blade of grass.
1916 Designer Aug. 25/1 The nuisance of led dogs fouling city streets is one which should not be tolerated.
2001 Daily Mail 2nd Aug. 13 (cartoon caption) Another split second and he would have fouled the pavement.
c. transitive. To defecate involuntarily on (one's bed, person, etc.). Frequently reflexive: to defecate involuntarily. Cf. wet v. 5d.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > organs of excretion > defecation or urination > defecation > [verb (intransitive)] > involuntarily
soil1297
foul1622
1622 J. Taylor Water-cormorant sig. D3 When his soule and corps, from each diuides, He foules no sheetes, nor any Physicke takes.
1673 in Jrnl. Brit. Stud. (1995) 34 16 She had fouled the bed.
1706 W. Oliver in Philos. Trans. 1704–05 (Royal Soc.) 24 2181 'Tis farther observable, he never foul'd his Bed.
1850 W. O. Russell & C. S. Greaves Treat. Crimes & Misdemeanous (U.S. ed. 6) I. i. i. 4 He then said that the child had been used to foul herself in bed.
1934 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 3 Nov. 823/2 The little girl was wont to ‘foul’ her bed, and had done so that morning.
2002 J. Reid Bullet meant for Me (2005) (e-book ed.) The broadfaced nurse inspected the bedding and found that I had fouled the sheets.
2020 R. Farrell Falling Woman vii. 46 She'd made it six months without fouling herself in public, a streak verging on the mythic among pancreatic cancer patients.
3.
a. transitive. To make (something) dirty, polluted, or full of impurities.to foul one's own nest: see nest n. 1b.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > dirtiness > dirty [verb (transitive)]
uncleanseOE
horyc1200
befoulc1320
behorewe1340
file1340
flobber1377
smatterc1386
foulc1400
slurryc1440
filtha1450
sowla1450
sollc1480
bawdy1495
squagea1500
arrayc1525
ray1526
bawdc1529
beray1530
filthify1545
belime1555
soss1557
embroyn1566
dirt1570
filthy1581
turpifya1586
dirty1591
muck1618
bedirt1622
bedirty1623
smooch1631
dight1632
fewma1637
snuddle1661
bepaw1684
puddle1698
nasty1707
muddify1739
scavenger1806
mucky1828
squalidize1837
mullock1861
muddy1893
c1400 (?c1380) Cleanness (1977) l. 1495 His iueles so gent wyth iaueles wer fouled.
a1450 St. Edith (Faust.) (1883) l. 3747 Lest þat holy plase wt þat blode y-folude shulde be.
1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection iii. sig. NNNiiii He that hath a precious..garment, wyll be loth to..foule it.
1611 Bible (King James) Ezek. xxxiv. 19 They drinke that which yee haue fouled with your feete. View more context for this quotation
1656 H. Hammond Δευτεραι Φροντιδες 115 They..eat in their armes, and with their hands fould with blood.
1745 J. Swift Direct. to Servants Pref. 20 The Waiting-maid..fouls a Smock more in one Hour than the Kitchen-maid doth in a Week.
1756 C. Lucas Ess. Waters ii. 141 It fouls itself with a pale ochrous sediment.
1883 Manch. Examiner 20 Nov. 5/5 Manchester gas is fouled by sulphur compounds.
1955 Times 18 Nov. 10/3 Sixty-two swans, badly fouled by thick oil, were removed from the Thames at Oxford yesterday.
2020 Straits Times (Singapore) (Nexis) 7 May A vision of what a low-carbon future could be like—one where streets are not clogged with polluting traffic or the air fouled by industry.
b. transitive. Of aquatic organisms such as algae and barnacles: to settle on or cover (submerged objects, especially the hulls of ships and boats), with damaging effects.
ΚΠ
1842 Mechanics' Mag. 15 Jan. 40/1 In proportion as the copper was thus electro-chemically preserved, it was rendered more liable to be fouled by the adhesion of animal and vegetable substances–an evil scarcely inferior in magnitude to that of the destruction of the copper itself.
1933 Pop. Sci. Nov. 27/2 (caption) Below, barnacles that foul ships.
2009 M. W. Robbins Whole Green Catal. 245/1 The hydrogen peroxide makes the hull inhospitable to the larvae of organisms that foul boat hulls.
4. transitive. To spoil or disfigure the appearance of (something); to deface, deform. literary or archaic after 17th cent. except in figurative contexts with admixture of sense 3a.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > lack of beauty > disfigurement > disfigure [verb (transitive)]
loathly?c1225
defacec1374
disfigurec1374
emblemishc1384
defoula1387
unhighta1387
disray1431
deform?c1450
foul?c1450
deflower1486
defeata1492
unbeauty1495
deflourisha1513
disform?1520
ungarnish1530
disfashiona1535
disfavour1535
disgrace1549
unbeautify1570
uglify1576
disbeautify1577
dishonest1581
disshape1583
disornament1593
disadorn1598
undeck1598
disvisage1603
unfair1609
untrim1609
debellish1610
disfair1628
discomplexion1640
devenustate1653
disfeature1659
monkeyfy1707
ugly1740
defeature1792
dedecorate1804
scarecrow1853
nastify1873
?c1450 tr. Bk. Knight of La Tour Landry (1906) 23 So was the wiff fouled and maymed all her lyff.
a1500 (c1340) R. Rolle Psalter (Univ. Oxf. 64) (1884) iv. §7. 17 How myght than man be in mare wrechidnes than swa to foule this ymage that it kan noght knaw til whas lyknynge it is made.
1557 Earl of Surrey et al. Songes & Sonettes sig. T.iiii He..fowlth with haile the winters face.
1658 tr. G. della Porta Nat. Magick xxx. 253 Your breath will foul her Face, and make it yellowish.
1884 R. Browning Ferishtah's Fancies (1885) 25 The cloud, which fouled so late Thy face.
1972 Daily Tel. 3 Feb. 7/1 He reasons that if the industrial nations go on fouling the face of the earth, civilisation..could begin to fail, perhaps by a.d. 2000.
2019 Khaleej Times (United Arab Emirates) (Nexis) 13 Nov. The municipality will continue to carry out inspection campaigns to monitor abandoned and dirty vehicles.., as it constitutes a negative phenomenon and fouls the city's appearance.
II. To pollute or sully morally or spiritually, and related senses.† 6. transitive. To damage, destroy, or impair (something). Also figurative: to treat without due honour or respect. Obsolete.Figurative examples could also be interpreted as figurative uses of foul v.2
5. † b. transitive. To rape or sexually assault (a woman); to defile. Obsolete.
a. transitive. To pollute or sully (someone or something) morally or spiritually; to defile; to dishonour, disgrace.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > disrepute > damage to reputation > sullying or staining of reputation > stain or sully [verb (transitive)]
filea1325
foulc1330
tache1390
dark?c1400
distain1406
smita1413
blemish1414
black?c1425
defoul1470
maculate?a1475
macule1484
tan1530
staina1535
spota1542
smear1549
blot1566
besmear1579
defile1581
attaint1590
soila1596
slubber1599
tack1601
woad1603
besmirch1604
blur1604
to breathe upon ——1608
be-smut1610
clouda1616
sullya1616
taint1623
smutch1640
blackena1649
to cast, put, throw (etc.) a slur on or upon (a person or thing)1654
beslur1675
tarnish1695
blackwash1762
carbonify1792
smirch1820
tattoo1884
dirten1987
society > morality > moral evil > moral or spiritual degeneration > degrading or impairing morally > degrade or impair morally [verb (transitive)] > pollute or defile
afileeOE
awemOE
filec1175
wemc1175
soila1250
foulc1330
defoula1340
bleckc1380
blemishc1380
pollutea1382
tache1390
sulpa1400
vilec1400
spota1413
stain1446
defilec1450
violate1490
tan1530
smear1549
beray1576
moil1596
discolour1598
smut1601
bespurtle1604
sullya1616
commaculatec1616
decolour?c1622
collutulate1623
deturpate1623
berust1631
smutch1640
discolorate1651
smoot1683
tarnish1695
tar1817
dirten1987
c1330 in C. Brown Relig. Lyrics 14th Cent. (1924) 32 Our flesche is fouled wiþ þe fende.
c1450 Jacob's Well (1900) 297 For venyall synnes þat foulyth vs yche day.
1591 H. Savile tr. Tacitus Ende of Nero: Fower Bks. Hist. i. 41 Fouling his infamous life with a slow and dishonest departing.
1612 T. Taylor Αρχὴν Ἁπάντων: Comm. Epist. Paul to Titus ii. 14 He careth not to be filthy still..and to fowle..all that come in his companie.
1748 Ld. Chesterfield Let. 9 Feb. (1932) (modernized text) III. 1096 Those of your commensaux, who..foul themselves with..scoundrel gamesters.
1791 E. Burke Let. to Member National Assembly 15 With hands not fouled with confiscation.
1862 E. M. Goulburn Thoughts Personal Relig. (1873) iii. x. 241 Whose imaginations have been fouled of evil.
1870 W. Morris Earthly Paradise I. ii. 621 No weariness of good shall foul thy name.
2008 Times 2 Apr. 7/3 [He] ignored appeals to stop the violence that was fouling his party's reputation.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > moral evil > licentiousness > unchastity > loss of chastity > deprive of chastity [verb (transitive)] > a woman
forliec1275
defoulc1290
dishonour1393
defilea1400
file?a1400
spilla1400
foilc1440
diviciatec1470
foul?1473
fulyie1505
vitiate1547
dishonest1565
fray1567
out1922
?1473 W. Caxton tr. R. Le Fèvre Recuyell Hist. Troye (1894) II. lf. 165 He had neuer doon other thyng in alle his lif than for to fowle and rauisshe women and maydens. ladyes & damoyselles.
1607 T. Middleton Revengers Trag. i. sig. C Sweare me to foule my sister.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > disrepute > damage to reputation > detract from [verb (transitive)] > bring discredit on or bring into disrepute
unworthyc1230
alosea1325
low1340
ensclaundre1389
foulc1390
disparagea1400
deface1529
depress1550
discredit?1550
ignoblec1590
redound1591
reproach1593
blame1596
nullify1603
scandal1606
sinka1616
even1625
explode1629
disrepute1649
disrepute1651
lese1678
rogue1678
reflect1769
disconsider1849
dispraise1879
c1390 (a1376) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Vernon) (1867) A. iii. l. 149 For heo is Fauerable to Fals and fouleþ [C text c1400 Huntington HM 137 defouleþ] Treuþe ofte.
c1390 in F. J. Furnivall Minor Poems Vernon MS (1901) ii. 612 (MED) Mi fruit þat is so holi halwed In a feeld is fouled and falwed.
c1400 (c1378) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Laud 581) (1869) B. xix. l. 310 Kammokes & wedes Fouleth þe fruite in þe felde þere þei growe togyderes.
a1500 (?a1450) Gesta Romanorum (BL Add. 9066) (1879) 62 He wedded a yonge maiden, that is, the new lawe that he made, and fowled [a1500 Harl. fylid] not the other.
III. To obstruct, and related senses.
7. Originally and chiefly Nautical.
a. transitive. To cause (something) to become clogged, obstructed, or encumbered; esp. to cause (an anchor or cable) to become entangled or obstructed; (later also) to cause (something) to be obstructed or jammed. Cf. foul adj. III.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > closed or shut condition > close or shut [verb (transitive)] > close by obstruction or block up
fordita800
forstop?c1225
estopa1420
accloy1422
ferma1522
clam1527
quar1542
cloy1548
dam1553
occlude1581
clog1586
impeach1586
bung1589
gravel1602
impediment1610
stifle1631
foul1642
obstipate1656
obturate1657
choke1669
blockade1696
to flop up1838
jama1865
to ball up1884
gunge1976
society > travel > travel by water > berthing, mooring, or anchoring > berth, moor, or anchor (a ship) [verb (transitive)] > anchor (a ship) > foul (cable or anchor)
foul1777
overlay1796
thwart1809
1642 J. Reading Serm. at Maiston 18 Some cleave to our Church, as Barnacles to the Ship-side, onely to foule and disadvantage us.
1726 Four Years Voy. Capt. G. Roberts 401 'Tis generally said, That the West-of-England-Men fouled this Bay, by heaving their Stone Ballast over-board in it.
1777 W. Hutchinson Treat. Pract. Seamanship 61 Care should be taken..that the anchor is not fouled by the cable getting about the fluke or stock of the anchor.
1827 T. Hood Sailor's Apol. ii 'Twas all along of Poll, as I may say, That fouled my cable, when I ought to slip.
1885 Manch. Examiner 17 Jan. 5/4 The Manchester express..ran into a mineral train by which the line was fouled.
1886 H. D. Borup Hotchkiss Revolving Cannon (U.S. Army Ordnance Mem. No. 27) 39 In order to prevent any water entering the breech and fouling the mechanism.
1955 Engineer's Digest (U.S. Coast Guard) Mar. 39/1 It was discovered that the stern anchor line was fouled in the screw.
2017 Arbroath Herald (Nexis) 4 May The blanket-weed was so thick it fouled the propeller of the boat.
b. transitive. Of a vessel: to collide or become entangled with (another vessel, an obstacle floating in the water, etc.); to run foul of (see foul adj. Phrases 1b(a)(i)).
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > action or motion of vessel > [verb (transitive)] > collide with
to run foul1596
to run aboard ——?1606
to run aboard1708
to fall on board (of)1797
foul1828
1828 Times 8 Mar. The Elizabeth Mary, lying at anchor in the harbour, was fouled by the Charlotte, lost rudder, and received damage.
1861 T. Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. I. ii. 32 He managed..to get into Iffley lock on the way up without fouling the gates.
1868 A. W. Kinglake Invasion of Crimea III. xvii. 439 Her jib-boom fouled the jib-boom of the Agamemnon.
1961 Pop. Boating Mar. 44/2 If an obstruction is fouled, a small boat may be dragged under or swamped before there is much time to think about what is happening.
2011 Eastern Daily Press (Norwich) (Nexis) 27 Aug. Two collided, and another fouled the buoy and sank it.
c. intransitive. To become entangled, jammed, or obstructed.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > difficulty > hindrance > types or manners of hindrance > [verb (intransitive)] > become entangled
gage1600
foul1835
the world > relative properties > order > disorder > confusion or disorder > entanglement or entangled state > become tangled [verb (intransitive)]
rivelOE
tangle1575
ravela1585
snarl1600
harl1609
twine1658
reeve1821
foul1835
taffle1840
1835 Army & Navy Chron. 22 Oct. 344/1 The line fouled at the first and second shots, and the elevation of the third was found to have been too low.
1858 W. Greener Gunnery in 1858 400 Prince's breech-loader..fouls in the proportion of at least 3 to 1 more.
1867 F. Francis Bk. Angling v. 140 He will be perpetually fouling in the branches.
1972 B. A. Koenig Theatre Royal, Drury Lane (Ph.D. diss., Univ. of Minnesota) 227 The mechanism fouled and before it could be remedied the audience was in an uproar.
2019 Times Colonist (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) (Nexis) 2 June (Final ed.) d1 His craft unloaded the troops, but a line fouled on something and the boat drifted sideways until it hit a mine.
8. Sport.
a. transitive. To touch, block, or otherwise interfere with (an opposing player) in a way which is against the rules of the game; to commit a foul against (an opponent). Cf. foul n. 5.Originating as a specific use of sense 7b in the context of rowing races. It is not clear at what point the infringement of the rules became the primary reference in this context, as opposed to collision itself, but this development had occurred by at least the end of the 1850s.
ΚΠ
1828 Bell's Life in London 7 Sept. In the first heat Goatley was fouled by Cobb.
1857 Reading Mercury 25 July 5/ The Marlow crew fouled the Maidenhead, and so lost.
1858 Bell's Life in London 28 Nov. 7/5 Firstly, they urged that Rowland had fouled their man..; and secondly, that it was not a bona fide race in consequence of no pistol being fired.
1913 Evening Tel. & Post (Dundee) 10 Mar. 5/7 Brownlie was badly fouled, and getting a penalty Fair scored.
1962 Tucson (Arizona) Daily Citizen 5 Jan. 31/1 The Pokes were apparently intentionally fouling him before he could get the ball off.
2021 Yorks. Post (Nexis) 10 Jan. Woodrow put the seal on the win with a penalty deep into stoppage time after Thomas was fouled in the area by Jay Spearing.
b. transitive. To play (the ball) in a manner that contravenes the rules of the game; spec. (a) Association Football to handle (the ball) (now rare); (b) Baseball to hit (the ball) into foul territory.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > baseball > play baseball [verb (transitive)] > actions of batter
pop1867
foul1870
poke1880
pole1882
bunch1883
line1887
to foul off1888
rip1896
sacrifice1905
pickle1906
to wait out1909
pull1912
single1916
pinch-hit1929
nub1948
tag1961
tomahawk1978
1870 Sheffield Daily Tel. 22 Nov. 6/5 The visitors, playing to new rules, were not at first au fait, and fouled the ball several times.
1906 Washington Post 9 Apr. (Sporting section) 3/1 He fouled the ball and was out.
1922 Western Gaz. 6 Jan. 2/7 Newman had to play over the object white, and in doing so he fouled the ball.
1940 Press & Jrnl. (Aberdeen) 13 May 4/6 The popular suggestion was that a home player had fouled the ball, but we heard from the referee himself that the goal was ruled off because of a neat offside reason.
2020 Associated Press (Nexis) 16 Sept. Correa was batting with one out in the sixth inning against the Texas Rangers when he fouled the ball.
c. intransitive. To infringe the rules or regulations of the game or event; esp. (a) to make a foul throw, jump, hit, etc.; (b) to commit a foul against an opponent.
ΚΠ
1875 Janesville (Wisconsin) Gaz. 11 June Smith fouled again, Ailon gathering it in.
1899 Portland Oregonian 11 Mar. 3/1 Smith violated the agreement not to strike in the clinches, fouling repeatedly.
1920 Amaroc News 16 Aug. 3/3 After causing the sweat to flow copiously amongst the rooters by fouling five times, he struck out.
1984 Runner Oct. 98/1 Lewis jumped once more and fouled, then passed his next four jumps.
2010 @hamhamhamlett 23 May in twitter.com (accessed 3 Mar. 2021) The magic are just fouling over and over because they can't win.
Phrasal verbs
With adverbs in specialized senses. to foul off to foul out to foul up
1. transitive. Baseball. To hit (a ball) or make (a hit) that is determined to be foul (see foul adj. 19b), especially due to landing in foul territory; cf. foul territory n.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > baseball > play baseball [verb (transitive)] > actions of batter
pop1867
foul1870
poke1880
pole1882
bunch1883
line1887
to foul off1888
rip1896
sacrifice1905
pickle1906
to wait out1909
pull1912
single1916
pinch-hit1929
nub1948
tag1961
tomahawk1978
1888 Indianapolis Jrnl. 10 May 3/1 Keefe put a number of good balls over the plate, all of which Hines met and fouled off.
1967 Chicago Daily Defender 29 Aug. 25/2 Ken McMullen fouled off a bunt, then slammed the next pitch for a two-run homer.
2020 Los Angeles Times (Nexis) 19 Oct. (Final ed.) d1 The count was 2-and-2 when Bellinger fouled off three straight pitches—two sinkers and a cutter.
2. transitive. Basketball. To expel (a player) from the game for exceeding the permitted number of personal fouls. Usually in passive. Cf. to foul out 2 at Phrasal verbs.
ΚΠ
1948 Lethbridge (Alberta) Herald 20 Dec. 13/3 His total would probably have been higher but he was fouled off after three minutes of play in the second quarter.
1976 Milton Keynes Express 11 June 42/6 Hawkins was then fouled off for five personal fouls and Lowther came back into the game.
2015 Queensland Times (Nexis) 17 Aug. 28 Ipswich gained momentum when it mattered most, helped by Payne being fouled off with 25 points.
1. intransitive. Baseball. To be caught out from a foul ball (foul ball n. 2a).
ΚΠ
1866 Freeport (Illinois) Jrnl. 12 Sept. Two passed balls brought Lawrence and Bicknell home; Allen fouled out; Bailey hit, and bad throwing brought him home.
1948 Washington Post 16 May 1 c The Yankee catcher fouled out to First Baseman Rudy York to end the game.
2006 Los Angeles Times (Nexis) 12 July d1 Hit a solo homer to right field in the second inning and fouled out to third base in the fifth.
2. Sport.
a. transitive. To disqualify or expel from the game (a player who has engaged in foul play); (usually in Basketball) to expel from the game for exceeding the permitted number of fouls.
ΚΠ
1896 Indianapolis Jrnl. 29 Feb. 2/2 The best Crawfordsville players being ‘fouled out’ at the start is what lost the game.
2020 National Post (Canada) (Nexis) 2 Aug. They overturned a charging call that would have fouled him out with 1:28 left and the score knotted at 107-107.
b. intransitive. To be disqualified from or fail to progress further in a game, event, or competition as a consequence of infringing the rules or regulations too often; (Basketball) to be expelled from the game for exceeding the permitted number of personal fouls.
ΚΠ
1917 Daily Free Press (Carbondale, Illinois) 14 Mar. Pierce fouled out, perhaps, for the first time since he has been on the first team.
1978 Detroit Free Press 5 Mar. c4/2 Reggie Carter hit two free throws before fouling out.
2021 Jamestown (N. Dakota) Sun (Nexis) 31 Jan. After carrying two fouls at the break, Nabwe fouled out with..Jamestown leading 64-46.
1.
a. intransitive. Of a mechanism: to become clogged or obstructed.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > closed or shut condition > become closed or shut [verb (intransitive)] > make a closure or obstruction > be or become stopped up
stop1575
choke1616
to foul up1874
plug1902
gunge1976
1874 T. Newbigging Gas Manager's Handbk. (ed. 2) 49 The first cost of the filling [of the Livesey scrubber] is greater than when coke or other material is employed, but it possesses the marked advantage of not fouling up, and will rarely or never need renewing.
1960 E. L. Delmar-Morgan Cruising Yacht Equipm. & Navigation xii. 146 Tendency of a two-stroke to ‘oil up’ or to ‘foul up’.
2014 Commercial Vehicle (Nexis) 21 Oct. The OEMs typically install a butterfly restrictor in the exhaust manifold, which is easily removed when it fouls up with soot.
b. transitive. To make (something) dirty or polluted; spec. to clog or obstruct (a mechanism).
ΚΠ
1880 Pet Stock Pigeon & Poultry Bull. May 35/2 The hen soon fouls up the spot where the coop is placed.
1882 J. W. Collins in Fishermen's Own Bk. 189 [He] was busy aft by the wheel-box clearing the log-line, or some other small gear which had been fouled up by the water washing it about deck.
1999 C. Grimshaw Provocation iii. 50 Round here we don't like trespassers. Trash. Fouling up our land.
2001 L. A. Windmill Gentleman Jim (2011) vi. 79 It was so cold that the oil had congealed and the mechanism was fouled up with sand.
2. colloquial (chiefly U.S.). Originally U.S. Military slang.Often, esp. in early use, as a euphemism for to fuck up (see to fuck up 1 at fuck v. Phrasal verbs 1).
a. transitive. To ruin or spoil (something); to mess up, botch, bungle. Also (esp. in early use): to confuse or muddle (a person or animal). Cf. slightly earlier fouled-up adj. 1a.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > ability > inability > unskilfulness > be unskilled in [verb (transitive)] > bungle
botch1530
bungle1530
mumble1588
muddle1605
mash1642
bumble?1719
to fall through ——1726
fuck1776
blunder1805
to make a mull of1821
bitch1823
mess1823
to make a mess of1834
smudge1864
to muck up1875
boss1887
to make balls of1889
duff1890
foozle1892
bollocks1901
fluff1902
to make a muck of1903
bobble1908
to ball up1911
jazz1914
boob1915
to make a hash of1920
muff1922
flub1924
to make a hat of1925
to ass up1932
louse1934
screw1938
blow1943
to foul up1943
eff1945
balls1947
to make a hames of1947
to arse up1951
to fuck up1967
dork1969
sheg1981
bodge1984
1943 R. R. Rea Let. 13 Aug. in Wings of Gold (1987) 76 I fouled up a navigation quiz completely.
1944 Denton (Maryland) Jrnl. 22 Dec. 25/1 It is the minor details due to a lack of practice perhaps more than anything else that are fouling me up.
1951 J. D. Salinger Catcher in Rye ix. 80 Boy, I really fouled that up.
1990 P. Cornwell Post-mortem (1998) x. 239 Nothing could foul up an investigation like a multijurisdictional effort.
2005 Southland (N.Z.) Times (Nexis) 15 Mar. We don't want to foul the whole thing up because we haven't done our job right.
b. intransitive. To blunder; to make a serious error; to go wrong, fail.
ΚΠ
1944 New Yorker 6 May 26/1 Look how we fouled up on maneuvers.
1950 Daily Times-News (Burlington, N. Carolina) 13 Feb. 4/4 For someone that is in the public eye she has really fouled up.
1992 Spectator 19 Dec. 33/1 He fouled up several times, and each time he got more upset.
2012 N.Y. Times Blogs (Nexis) 3 July Somebody, or a bunch of somebodies, fouled up big time, though it's not clear if blame lies with poll workers or with the police.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2021; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
† foulv.2
Obsolete.
transitive. To trample (something); to tread (something) down. Also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > impact > striking > striking with specific thing > strike with specific thing [verb (transitive)] > with the foot > downwards > trample
treadc825
overtreadOE
to tread down, under foot, in the mire, to the ground, to piecesc1175
defoulc1290
foil13..
to-treada1382
foula1400
fulyie1488
overgo1488
trample1530
tramp1533
conculcate1570
trample1577
overtrample1589
tramp1596
inculcate1598
stramplea1610
calcate1623
scrunch1861
a1400 (c1303) R. Mannyng Handlyng Synne (Harl.) l. 5989 He wyl..Hys bestes..bayte, To ete hys grasse, or foule hys corne.
1483 W. Caxton tr. J. de Voragine Golden Legende f. xxiiijv/2 The presse I haue torned & fowled all allone.
c1515 Ld. Berners tr. Bk. Duke Huon of Burdeux (1882–7) cxl. 524 The countre is sore fowllyd and opressyd.
1643 W. Prynne Popish Royall Favourite 46 He caused the Image of the Crosse to be redressed, and that men should not foule it under their feete.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2021).
fouladv.
/faʊl/, U.S. /faʊl/ a. In a manner which is unpleasant or offensive to the senses; disgustingly, revoltingly. Usually with reference to something foul-smelling or very dirty. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > smell and odour > fetor > [adverb]
fouleOE
foullyOE
puantlya1529
stinkingly1545
rammishly1567
noisomely1589
stinking1589
rankfully1607
rancidly1637
sulphuriously1638
pungently1658
rankly1661
sulphureously1677
overcomingly1840
loud1871
unfragrantly1883
malodorously1903
eOE King Ælfred tr. Gregory Pastoral Care (Hatton) (1871) lix. 449 Ðæt hi wæren gelicost deadra manna byrgennum, ða bioð utan oft swiðe wlitige geworhte, & bioð innan swiðe fule gefylde.
OE Ælfric Old Test. Summary: Maccabees (Julius) in W. W. Skeat Ælfric's Lives of Saints (1900) II. 102 Him weollon þa wurmas of ðam..lichaman, and he stanc swa fule þæt man hine ferian ne mihte.
c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 1201 Gat iss..Gal deor. & stinnkeþþ fule.
a1300 Vision St. Paul (Jesus Oxf.) l. 123 in R. Morris Old Eng. Misc. (1872) 150 Þe stude..stinkeþ fulre þane þe hund.
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) I. xii. xiii. 625 Suche flyes stynge riȝt foule þat beþ ifedde wiþ suche corrupt metis.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Trin. Cambr.) l. 6353 Þe wattres þat so foule stank.
c1450 (c1378) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Rawl.) (1869) B. xiii. l. 401 Glotoun with grete othes his granement [emended in ed. to garnement] hadde soyled, And foule be-flobered it.
1563 W. Fulke Goodle Gallerye Causes Meteors v. f. 67v Lead also..which maketh it to be in collor so black, & so fowl to corrupt.
1592 N. Breton Pilgrimage to Paradise 1 The aier vnholsome, or so foule infected.
b. In an ugly, unbecoming, or unseemly manner. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > lack of beauty > ugliness > [adverb]
uglilya1300
foulc1390
uglyc1420
ill-favouredly1545
evilfavouredly1551
ill-favourably1576
stigmatically1622
unmacklyc1650
unsightly1726
the world > action or operation > behaviour > bad behaviour > [adverb] > in unseemly manner
unworthlyc1200
unconablya1340
unworthily1377
unhonestlyc1380
uncovenablya1382
uncomelya1400
unseemlya1400
unsittinglyc1412
uncomelilyc1420
foula1450
unmeetly1533
unconveniently1538
undecently1563
unbeseemingly1617
unbeseeming1645
unbecomingly1653
indecorously1818
unbefittingly1871
c1390 (a1376) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Vernon) (1867) A. v. l. 66 So loked he with lene chekes, lourede he foule.
a1450 Seven Sages (Cambr. Dd.1.17) (1845) l. 484 Scho..To-rente hyre clothes and foule ferde.
a1450 ( G. Chaucer Bk. Duchess (Tanner 346) (1871) l. 623 She..baggiþ [= leers, squints] foule.
c1450 (?a1400) Wars Alexander (Ashm.) l. 4082 Wemen..Þat frely faire ware of face bot foule ware clethid.
a1500 (a1460) Towneley Plays (1994) I. xiii. 150 Ill-spon weft, iwys, Ay commys foull owte.
1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene ii. iii. sig. P3v She gins her feathers fowle disfigured Prowdly to prune.
a. In a wicked, sinful, or dishonest manner; abominably; treacherously. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > wrongdoing > treachery or treason > [adverb]
foulOE
hinderfullichec1200
falsely?c1225
traitorouslyc1330
treacherouslya1340
traitorly?a1349
treacherlyc1394
traitouslyc1450
treasonouslyc1450
treasonablyc1480
traditorously1536
society > morality > moral evil > wickedness > [adverb]
wrothec888
litherlyc1050
foulOE
sinfullyc1175
quedelya1250
amissc1275
shrewdly13..
felonly1303
wickedly1303
wickc1330
wickly1338
lewdlyc1384
wickeda1400
mischievouslyc1426
felonously1436
felonmentc1470
wickedfullyc1480
villainously1484
meschantlya1492
sinisterly1491
naughtily?1529
perniciously1533
naughtly1575
unsela1583
nefariously1599
scelerately1632
improbously1657
queerly1699
OE tr. Chrodegang of Metz Regula Canonicorum (Corpus Cambr. 191) i. 173 Ælc prut man is fule unwyrð urum drihtene, and swa hwylcne swa þu modigne gesehst, butan tweon se is deofles bearn.
a1275 Doomsday (Trin. Cambr.) in C. Brown Eng. Lyrics 13th Cent. (1932) 43 Þe wile þat we misten, to lutel we hire sende; Þat makede þe worse, so woule [c1275 Calig. fule] he us ablende.
c1330 (?c1300) Speculum Guy (Auch.) (1898) l. 591 Iesu..þolede pine..And foule was þerto misseid.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Trin. Cambr.) l. 1639 Þe erþe wiþ synne is foul shent.
a1425 (?a1400) G. Chaucer Romaunt Rose (Hunterian) (1891) l. 1061 They..foule abate the folkis prys.
1609 Bp. W. Barlow Answer Catholike English-man 244 The Bishops which came to diuest him, they laid it foule to his charge.
b. Disgracefully, shamefully; ignominiously. Obsolete. to call (a person) foul: to call by a bad name; to insult.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > disrepute > disgrace or dishonour > [adverb]
shamelyc1200
shendfully?c1225
to one's shamec1275
shamefullya1300
despitouslyc1320
foula1325
shondfullyc1330
inhonestly1340
shendshipfully1388
dishonestlyc1430
shamouslyc1440
ignominiously1553
slanderously1563
reproachfully1567
opprobriously1569
ingloriously1576
dishonourably1590
indignly1593
disgracefully1604
despitely1619
vituperiously1632
to a reproacha1715
shaming1970
the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > disapproval > invective or abuse > abuse [verb (transitive)] > call names
miscallc1449
to call (a person) foulc1450
misname1528
to call (a person) names1638
becall1683
call1825
the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > disrepute > damage to reputation > slander or calumny > slander or calumniate [verb (transitive)] > call by a bad name
miscallc1449
to call (a person) foulc1450
misname1528
a1325 (c1280) Southern Passion (Pepys 2344) (1927) l. 1385 Hi beoþ y-harled her and þer, as houndes ffoule ynow.
c1390 (a1376) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Vernon) (1867) A. iii. l. 179 And þou hast famed me foule bifore the kyng heere.
a1425 (?c1384) J. Wyclif Sel. Eng. Wks. (1871) III. 346 (MED) A stiward..failiþ foule in his office.
c1450 How Wise Man tauȝt Sonne (Lamb. 853) in Babees Bk. (2002) i. 51 To calle hir foule it is þi schame.
a1500 (?c1450) Merlin i. 12 Hir bewte was foule spente, seth it was loste in soche manere.
1597 W. Shakespeare Richard III iii. ii. 41 Ile haue this crowne of mine, cut from my shoulders Ere I will see the crowne so foule misplaste.
a. In a harsh, strict, or unsparing manner; severely. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > strictness > [adverb] > severely or sternly
sternlyc897
stitha1000
sterna1175
foulc1275
stithlya1300
steevely1340
austerely?a1400
smartlya1400
unsternlya1400
sore1484
shrewdly1490
dourlya1500
severely1548
roundly1567
severe1599
fiercely1611
piquantly1691
the world > action or operation > behaviour > bad behaviour > violent behaviour > [adverb] > roughly or violently
unbesorrowlya1225
foulc1275
rowc1325
boistouslyc1386
rabbishlya1387
renishlyc1400
boistlyc1460
rudec1460
harshlyc1480
boisterly1520
roughly1560
rapfully1582
boisterouslya1586
thuggishly1887
c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1978) l. 14768 Euer-elc freo mon ful telleð heom on.
c1390 (c1300) MS Vernon Homilies in Archiv f. das Studium der Neueren Sprachen (1877) 57 243 Seint Jon..snibbed him foule of his synne.
c1450 Alphabet of Tales (1905) II. 263 (MED) Þe Emperour..accusid hym, & þer he was taken & fowle farn with & callid traytur.
a1500 Alexander-Cassamus (Ph.D. thesis, Univ. of Munich) (1911) l. 149 (MED) My enemyes in the feld than fowle wil I depraue.
b. To a severe or serious degree; sorely, grievously; = foully adv. 3. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > badness or evil > [adverb]
noughtlyeOE
wrothec888
unrighteouslyeOE
foullyOE
naughtlyOE
wrothlyc1200
litherlya1225
unwraste?c1225
illc1275
vilelyc1290
shrewdly13..
felonly1303
unwrastlyc1320
viciouslya1325
diverselyc1325
wickly1338
lewdlyc1384
badlyc1405
foula1425
mischievouslyc1426
felonously1436
felonmentc1470
wickedfullyc1480
villainously1484
meschantlya1492
sinisterly1491
noughtily1528
naughtily?1529
perniciously1533
illy1549
naught1549
bad1575
evilly1581
nefariously1599
scelerately1632
improbously1657
piggishly1756
iniquitously1796
pervertedly1804
a1425 (?a1400) G. Chaucer Romaunt Rose (Hunterian) (1891) l. 2655 Thanne shalt thou goon ful foule a feerd.
1426 W. Paston in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) I. 7 I am foule and noysyngly vexed with hem.
a1500 (?c1450) Merlin vii. 116 Foule were thei skorched with the fier.
1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene i. v. sig. E2v Two of three her Nephews are so fowle forlorne.
1614 T. Combe tr. G. de la Perrière Theater of Fine Devices xxxvi. sig. C8 Who thinks to change abuses waxen old, Is foule deceiued in his inward mind.
4. In an unfortunate, unfavourable, or inauspicious manner; in a way that shows or suggests future success to be unlikely. Cf. fair adv. 6. Now archaic and rare.Chiefly in optative use with impersonal verbs, esp. in foul befall, foul fall. Later examples may be interpreted as showing the noun as the subject of the verb (cf. foul n. 1a). See also befall v. 4e, fall v. Phrases 4a.In other uses chiefly with bid, promise, etc., and infinitive, indicating what is likely to occur or be the case.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > expectation > disappointment > lack of promise > [adverb] > inauspiciously
foulc1450
unpropitiously1602
inauspiciously1684
unauspiciouslya1797
c1450 (c1400) Sowdon of Babylon (1881) l. 199 And foule shal hem this day bifalle.
1488 (c1478) Hary Actis & Deidis Schir William Wallace (Adv.) (1968–9) i. l. 430 Foule mot ȝow fall.
1594 J. Dickenson Arisbas sig. D3v Foule fall the wagge that lost so rare a iewell.
1610 J. Healey tr. Lucan in tr. St. Augustine Citie of God x. xi. 377 Foule befall yee.
1768 L. Sterne Sentimental Journey II. 7 Foul befal the man who ever lays a snare in its way!
1844 J. Ballantine Miller of Deanhaugh 135 Foul fa' the Scot wha wad whomle thee doun.
1853 F. Kemble Let. 22 Dec. in Further Rec. (1891) 309 We have had rain and darkness to-day that would not have disgraced the city, and it promises foul to continue.
1957 D. L. Sayers tr. Song of Roland 126 Foul fall you, accursed Paynim wretch!
1968 Sunday Tel. 14 Jan. 14/1 Soviet power bids fair—or foul—to replace that of Britain and America in the Middle East.
5. In a manner not in accordance with established standards or practice; incorrectly, improperly. Now chiefly Angling, with reference to the hooking of a fish anywhere on the body except in the mouth: see foul-hook v.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > wrongdoing > erring > [adverb]
acrooka1387
astray1535
foul1683
deviously1742
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > disregard for truth, falsehood > lack of truth, falsity > [adverb]
wrongc1175
miss?c1225
untruea1350
untrulyc1380
falselya1400
wilsomelyc1420
awrong1430
unpurelyc1460
fallibly1552
erroneously1578
sinistrously1581
wrongously1597
false1598
unproperly1604
incorrectly1611
fallaciously1612
mistakingly1652
foul1683
wrongfully1743
wrongly1755
erringly1815
1683 London Gaz. No. 1840/4 [He] trots and gallops foul.
1715 London Gaz. No. 5331/4 Carries his Tail foul.
1828 H. Davy Salmonia v. 114 I see him: he is hooked foul, and I fear we shall never recover him.
1884 Western Daily Press 16 Apr. 7/2 A well-known..amateur..in spurring his first bird fastened the spur on ‘foul’, the result being that the first blow it made cut its own throat.
1920 W. Senior Lines in Pleasant Places xvii. 217 It turned out to be a 3-lb. sea trout, hooked foul.
6. Contrary to the rules of the game; unfairly.See also foul adj.: some earlier examples of the phrase can be interpreted as showing the adverb in this sense.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of play, actions, or postures > [adverb]
defensively1777
foul1833
long1839
scratchily1927
unplayably1955
1833 Bell's Life in London 6 Jan. Noon hit foul—a wrangle.
1898 Portland Oregonian 4 June 12/1 The reason that I very often have the appearance of fighting foul is because I have short arms.
1906 Wide World Mag. Nov. 166/2 We had been playing a friendly game, and I did not much care whether he had dealt foul or not.
1982 Daily Tel. 14 Jan. 3/4 A bare knuckle duel of honour over a wife..turned sour when her husband ‘fought foul’ and pulled out a knife.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2021; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.eOE
adj.eOEv.1OEv.2a1400adv.eOE