Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Foul?

\Foul\ (foul), n. [See {Fowl}.] A bird. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
\Foul\ (foul), a. [Compar. Fouler (-[~e]r); superl. {Foulest}.] [OE. foul, ful, AS. f[=u]l; akin to D. vuil, G. faul rotten, OHG. f[=u]l, Icel. f[=u]l foul, fetid; Dan. fuul, Sw. ful foul, Goth. f[=u]ls fetid, Lith. puti to be putrid, L. putere to stink, be putrid, pus pus, Gr. py`on pus, to cause to rot, Skr. p[=u]y to stink. [root]82. Cf. {Defile} to foul, {File} to foul, {Filth}, {Pus}, {Putrid}.] 1. Covered with, or containing, extraneous matter which is injurious, noxious, offensive, or obstructive; filthy; dirty; not clean; polluted; nasty; defiled; as, a foul cloth; foul hands; a foul chimney; foul air; a ship's bottom is foul when overgrown with barnacles; a gun becomes foul from repeated firing; a well is foul with polluted water. My face is foul with weeping. --Job. xvi. 16. 2. Scurrilous; obscene or profane; abusive; as, foul words; foul language. 3. Hateful; detestable; shameful; odious; wretched. ``The foul with Sycorax.'' --Shak. Who first seduced them to that foul revolt? --Milton. 4. Loathsome; disgusting; as, a foul disease. 5. Ugly; homely; poor. [Obs.] --Chaucer. Let us, like merchants, show our foulest wares. --Shak. 6. Not favorable; unpropitious; not fair or advantageous; as, a foul wind; a foul road; cloudy or rainy; stormy; not fair; -- said of the weather, sky, etc. So foul a sky clears not without a storm. --Shak. 7. Not conformed to the established rules and customs of a game, conflict, test, etc.; unfair; dishonest; dishonorable; cheating; as, foul play. 8. Having freedom of motion interfered with by collision or entanglement; entangled; -- opposed to clear; as, a rope or cable may get foul while paying it out. {Foul anchor}. (Naut.) See under {Anchor}. {Foul ball} (Baseball), a ball that first strikes the ground outside of the foul ball lines, or rolls outside of certain limits. {Foul ball lines} (Baseball), lines from the home base, through the first and third bases, to the boundary of the field. {Foul berth} (Naut.), a berth in which a ship is in danger of fouling another vesel. {Foul bill}, or {Foul bill of health}, a certificate, duly authenticated, that a ship has come from a place where a contagious disorder prevails, or that some of the crew are infected. {Foul copy}, a rough draught, with erasures and corrections; -- opposed to fair or clean copy. ``Some writers boast of negligence, and others would be ashamed to show their foul copies.'' --Cowper. {Foul proof}, an uncorrected proof; a proof containing an excessive quantity of errors. {Foul strike} (Baseball), a strike by the batsman when any part of his person is outside of the lines of his position. {To fall foul}, to fall out; to quarrel. [Obs.] ``If they be any ways offended, they fall foul.'' --Burton. {To} {fall, or run}, {foul of}. See under {Fall}. {To make foul water}, to sail in such shallow water that the ship's keel stirs the mud at the bottom.
\Foul\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Fouled}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Fouling}.] 1. To make filthy; to defile; to daub; to dirty; to soil; as, to foul the face or hands with mire. 2. (Mil.) To incrust (the bore of a gun) with burnt powder in the process of firing. 3. To cover (a ship's bottom) with anything that impered its sailing; as, a bottom fouled with barnacles. 4. To entangle, so as to impede motion; as, to foul a rope or cable in paying it out; to come into collision with; as, one boat fouled the other in a race.
\Foul\, v. i. 1. To become clogged with burnt powder in the process of firing, as a gun. 2. To become entagled, as ropes; to come into collision with something; as, the two boats fouled.
\Foul\, n. 1. An entanglement; a collision, as in a boat race. 2. (Baseball) See {Foul ball}, under {Foul}, a.
\Foul\, n. In various games or sports, an act done contrary to the rules; a foul stroke, hit, play, or the like.