Foul

Pronunciation

• enPR: foul, IPA: /faÊŠl/
• Rhymes: -aÊŠl
• Homophones: fowl
• Rhymes: -aÊŠÉ™l

From Middle English, from Old English fūl ("foul, unclean, impure, vile, corrupt, rotten, guilty"), from Proto-Germanic *fūlaz ("foul, rotten"), from Proto-Indo-European *pū- ("to rot"). Cognate with Dutch vuil ("foul"), German faul ("rotten, putrid"), Danish and Swedish ful ("foul"), and through Indo-European, with Albanian fëlliq ("filth,dirt"), Latin puter ("rotten"). More at putrid.

Full definition of foul

Adjective

1. Covered with, or containing unclean matter; polluted; nasty; defiled
• 2013-06-29, Unspontaneous combustion, Since the mid-1980s, when Indonesia first began to clear its bountiful forests on an industrial scale in favour of lucrative palm-oil plantations, “haze” has become an almost annual occurrence in South-East Asia. The cheapest way to clear logged woodland is to burn it, producing an acrid cloud of foul white smoke that, carried by the wind, can cover hundreds, or even thousands, of square miles.
2. This cloth is too foul to use as a duster.
   His foul hands got dirt all over the kitchen.
   The air was so foul nobody could breathe.
   A ship's bottom is foul when overgrown with barnacles
   A well is foul with polluted water.
3. obscene or profane; abusive.
   The rascal spewed forth a series of foul words.
   His foul language causes many people to believe he is uneducated.
4. Hateful; detestable; unpleasant
   He has a foul set of friends.
• MiltonWho first seduced them to that foul revolt?
5. Loathsome; disgusting; as, a foul disease.
   This foul food is making me retch.
   There was a foul smell coming from the toilet.
6. (obsolete) Ugly; homely; poor.
• ShakespeareLet us, like merchants, show our foulest wares.
7. 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.
   Some foul weather is brewing.
• ShakespeareSo foul a sky clears not without a storm.
8. Not conforming to the established rules and customs of a game, conflict, test, etc.; unfair; dishonest; dishonorable; cheating.
   Foul play is not suspected.
9. (nautical) 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.
   We've got a foul anchor.
10. (baseball) Outside of the base lines; in foul territory.
    Jones hit foul ball after foul ball.

Usage notes

Nouns to which "foul" is often applied: play, ball, language, breath, smell, odor, water, weather, deed.

Synonyms

Derived terms

• afoul
• befoul
• fall foul
• nonfoul
• nonfouling

From Old English fūlian.

Verb

1. (transitive) To make dirty.to foul the face or hands with mireShe's fouled her diaper.
2. (transitive) To besmirch.He's fouled his reputation.
3. (transitive) To clog or obstruct.The hair has fouled the drain.
4. (transitive, nautical) To entangle.The kelp has fouled the prop.
5. (transitive, basketball) To make contact with an opposing player in order to gain advantage.Smith fouled him hard.
6. (transitive, baseball) To hit outside of the baselines.Jones fouled the ball off the facing of the upper deck.
7. (intransitive) To become clogged.''The drain fouled.
8. (intransitive) To become entangled.The prop fouled on the kelp.
9. (intransitive, basketball) To commit a foul.Smith fouled within the first minute of the quarter.
10. (intransitive, baseball) To hit a ball outside of the baselines.Jones fouled for strike one.

Noun

1. (sports) A breach of the rules of a game, especially one involving inappropriate contact with an opposing player in order to gain an advantage; as, for example, foot-tripping in soccer, or contact of any kind in basketball.
• 2011, December 10, Arindam Rej, Norwich 4 - 2 Newcastle, A second Norwich goal in four minutes arrived after some dire Newcastle defending. Gosling gave the ball away with a sloppy back-pass, allowing Crofts to curl in a cross that the unmarked Morison powered in with a firm, 12-yard header.
  Gosling's plight worsened when he was soon shown a red card for a foul on Martin.
2. (bowling) A (usually accidental) contact between a bowler and the lane before the bowler has released the ball.
3. (baseball) A foul ball, a ball which has been hit outside of the base lines.Jones hit a foul up over the screen.