Foul

Foul, n. In various games or sports, an act done contrary to the rules; a foul stroke, hit, play, or the like.

Foul (foul), n. [See Fowl.] A bird. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Foul (foul), a. [Compar. Fouler (-ẽr); superl. Foulest.] [OE. foul, ful, AS. fūl; akin to D. vuil, G. faul rotten, OHG. fūl, Icel. fūl foul, fetid; Dan. fuul, Sw. ful foul, Goth. fūls fetid, Lith. puti to be putrid, L. putere to stink, be putrid, pus pus, Gr. py`on pus, to cause to rot, Skr. pūy to stink. √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.

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?

4. Loathsome; disgusting; as, a foul disease.

5. Ugly; homely; poor. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Let us, like merchants, show our foulest wares.

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.

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.