Definitions for: Foul


[n] (sports) an act that violates of the rules of the sport
[adj] especially of a ship's lines etc; "with its sails afoul"; "a foul anchor"
[adj] disgustingly dirty; filled or smeared with offensive matter; "as filthy as a pigsty"; "a foul pond"; "a nasty pigsty of a room"
[adj] characterized by obscenity; "had a filthy mouth"; "foul language"; "smutty jokes"
[adj] (informal) thoroughly unpleasant; "filthy (or foul or nasty or vile) weather we're having"
[adj] (of a baseball) not hit between the foul lines
[adj] violating accepted standards or rules; "a dirty fighter"; "used foul means to gain power"; "a nasty unsporting serve"; "fined for unsportsmanlike behavior"
[adj] offensively malodorous; "a putrid smell"
[adj] (of a manuscript) defaced with changes; "foul (or dirty) copy"
[adj] highly offensive; arousing aversion or disgust; "a disgusting smell"; "distasteful language"; "a loathsome disease"; "the idea of eating meat is repellent to me"; "revolting food"; "a wicked stench"
[v] commit a foul; break the rules
[v] hit a foul ball, in baseball
[v] become foul or dirty
[v] make foul; "foul the water"
[v] spot, stain, or pollute; "The townspeople defiled the river by emptying raw sewage into it"
[v] make impure; "The industrial wastes polluted the lake"
[v] become or cause to become obstructed; "The leaves clog our drains in the Fall"; "The water pipe is backed up"



Webster (1913) Definition: 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.

Synonyms: afoul(ip), back up, befoul, cheating(a), choke, choke off, clog, clog up, congest, contaminate, defile, dirty, disgustful, disgusting, distasteful, fetid, filthy, foetid, fouled, foul-smelling, funky, illegible, inclement, loathly, loathsome, maculate, malodorous, marked-up, nasty, noisome, offensive, out-of-bounds, pollute, putrid, repellant, repellent, repelling, revolting, skanky, smelly, smutty, soiled, stinking, tangled, unclean, unfair, unjust, unsporting, unsportsmanlike, vile, wicked, yucky

Antonyms: fair, unclog

See Also: attaint, begrime, bemire, block, change, choke up, close up, colly, crap up, dirty, disgrace, dishonor, dishonour, foul ball, foul out, grime, gum up, hack, hit, impede, infect, infringement, jam, lug, obstruct, obturate, occlude, personal foul, play, shame, silt, silt up, soil, stuff, taint, violation

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