Foul a., adv. and sb.

Forms: 1 fúl, 2–3 ful, (3 ? fuȝel), 2–5 fule, (5 fulle), 4 fole, (feule), 4–7 foule, fowl(e, 4 south. voule, (5–6 foull, fow(e)ll), 9 dial. feaw, fou, 3– foul. [OE. fúl = OFris. fûl(nisse) (Du. vuil), OHG. fûl (MHG. vûl, Ger. faul), ON. fúll (Sw. ful, Da. fuul), Goth. fûls:—OTeut. *fûlo-, f. root *fu- (also in ON. fúenn rotten, feyja:—*faujan to cause to rot):—Aryan *pu- (in Skr. pū to stink, Gr. πύον, L. pūs purulent matter, L. pūtēre to stink, puter rotten).] A. adj.

  1.  Grossly offensive to the senses, physically loathsome; primarily with reference to the odor or appearance indicative of putridity or corruption.

a. 800.  Corpus Gloss., 1031. Holido, fule.

971.  Blickl. Hom., 59. Se lichoma þonne on þone heardestan stenc & on þone fulostan bið ȝecyrred.

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 43. Þe seofeþe ful stunch.

c. 1250.  Gen. & Ex., 2555.

c. 1325.  English Metrical Homilies, 77.

a. 1535.  More, Wks. (1557), 477/1. I pray God that the sore eyes of hys sicke soule may once loke vp better, lest he finally fall into the fowle smoke of hell, where he shall neuer see after.

1667.  Milton, P. L., IV. 839.

Mod.  The foul smells of the place soon drove us away. The foul dens to be found in our great cities.

  b.  Of a disease or a person affected with disease: Loathsome. † The foul disease or evil: (a) epilepsy, (b) syphilis, etc. Foul brood: a disease of larval bees (see quot.).

c. 900.  Bede Gloss., 50, in Sweet, O. E. Texts, 181. Feda peste, fulre adle.

1393.  Langl., P. Pl., C. IV. 96. Feueres oþer fouler yueles.

1486.  Bk. St. Albans, C v b. That is tokyn of the foule glet.

1529.  S. Fish, Supplic. Beggers (E.E.T.S.), 1. The wretched hidous monstres (on whome scarcely for horror any yie dare loke,) the foule, vnhappy sorte of lepres, and other sore people.

1542.  Boorde, Introd. Knowl. (1870), ii. 127. As ‘the foule euyll,’ whyche is the fallyng syckenes, is at the ende of euery skottysh mans tale.

1607.  Topsell, Four-f. Beasts (1658), 567. The brains of a Camel mingled with the brains of a Weasel, being both well dryed, and drunk in Vinegar, speedily helpeth those which are troubled with the disease called the Foul evill.

1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 711.

1744.  Berkeley, Siris, § 63. Useful in gouts, dropsies, and rheums, as well as in the foul disease.

1888.  R. Camper Day, Modern Bee-keeping, in Good Words, XXIX. 353/2. To Mr. Cheshire is also due the credit of discovering a remedy for, and removing all doubt as to the nature and origin of the terrible disease known as ‘foul-brood,’ which was formerly thought to be incurable.

1896.  Board of Agriculture Leaflet, No. 32. Foul brood or Bee pest is the most terrible scourge of apiculture. It … is caused by a rod-shaped micro-organism, called Bacillus alvei.… Hives in which foul brood exists give forth a sickly and unpleasant smell.

  c.  Charged with offensive matter; ‘full of gross humours’ (J.). Of a carcass: Tainted with disease.

c. 1400.  Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 93. Þis is þe difference bitwene a cankre & a foul ulcus.

1606.  Shaks., As You Like It, II. vii. 60.

1609.  Skene, Reg. Maj., Stat. Robt. III., c. 40. 59 b. Fvle Swine, or Corrvpted Salmon, sould be not sauld.

1799.  Med. Jrnl., II. 350. A comparative view of a foul ulcer, with one in a healing state.

1837.  Carlyle, Fr. Rev., I. II. iii. (1872), 32. Foul Product of still fouler Corruption, thou with the corruption art doomed!

  II.  Opposed to CLEAN a. II.

  (The implication of disgust etymologically belonging to the word was formerly often absent in these senses; in present use association with sense 1 has commonly restored it, exc. in certain technical or idiomatic expressions.)

  2.  Dirty, soiled; covered with or full of dirt. Of ground, a road: Miry, muddy. Now arch. or dial., exc. with mixture of sense 1: Disgustingly dirty, filthy.

c. 1000.  Ælfric, Gloss., in Wr.-Wülcker, 125. Stigmentum, ful maal on ræȝel.

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 81. Þes oðer … luueð his sunnen alse deð þet fette swin þet fule fen to liȝȝen in.

c. 1230.  Hali Meid., 13. Þa like sari wrecches þat iþat ilke fule wurðinge unweddede walewið.

c. 1300.  Havelok, 555.

1387.  Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), I. 287. In stede of wode þey brenneþ torfes, þat smelleþ wors þan wode, and makeþ fouler askes.

c. 1450.  Life of St. Cuthbert (Surtees), 7214. Þe way was foule, and wendyng hard.

c. 1483.  Caxton, Vocab., 16.

1516.  Will of R. Peke of Wakefield, 4 June. To ament a fowll holle abowt the brige.

1535.  Coverdale, Zech. iii. 4. Take awaye y^e foule clothes from him.

1655.  H. Vaughan, Silex Scint., I. Stars (1858), 56.

1700.  S. L., trans. C. Fryke’s Voy. E. Ind., 341. One of the Washers, came (as it is usual at Columbo for them to twice a-week to fetch People’s foul Linnen).

1807.  Med. Jrnl., XVII. 107. Listed the sick into their carriages dressed in their foulest clothes, and sinking under the worse degrees of the disease.

1889.  Whitby Gaz., 25 Oct., 3/3. If the way be foul so as not to be passable.

  fig.  1588.  Shaks., Loves Labour’s Lost, IV. i. 139. Ma. Come, come, you talke greasily, your lips grow foule.

1715.  De Foe, Fam. Instruct., I. iv. (1841), I. 86. If you hold of this mind, we are like to have a foul house with you quickly.

  3.  † Of handwriting; Blotted, illegible (obs.). Foul copy: a first copy, defaced by corrections (now rare); so † foul books, etc. (Cf. CLEAN a. 3 c, FAIR a. 8 c.) Foul proof: see quots.

1467.  Paston Lett., No. 575, II. 307. By cause of the foule wrytyng and interlynyeng.

1628.  Earle, Microcosm. (Arb.), 85. Acquaintance is the first draught of a friend, whom we must lay downe oft thus, as the foule coppy, before he can write him perfit, and true.

1659.  Burton’s Diary (1828), IV. 470. Dr. Petty informed the House that the particulars in his hands were foul books and papers, out of which those he had returned were extracted.

1683.  Moxon, Mech. Exerc., II. 377. Foul Proof. When a Proof has many Faults markt in it.

1758.  Jortin, Erasm., I. 46. He sent a foul Copy of a translation of the Icaromenippus to Ammonius, begging him to get it transcribed.

1888.  Jacobi, Printer’s Vocab., Foul proof.—A proof distinct from a clean proof.

  b.  Foul bill of health: see BILL sb.³ 10.

1867.  Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., s.v. Bill of Health.

  4.  Charged with defiling or noxious matter; esp. said of air, water, etc. † Of a ship: To make foul water (see quot. 1769). Cf. CLEAN a. 2.

  Foul air, water, exc. in technical uses as Naut. or Mining, are now used with a mixture of sense 1.

1535.  Coverdale, Jer. ii. 18. And what hast thou now to do in y^e strete of Egipte? to drinke foule water?

1627.  Capt. Smith, Seaman’s Gram., ix. 44. Fowle water is when she comes into shallow water where shee raise the sand or ose with her way.

1653–4.  Whitelocke, Jrnl. Swed. Emb. (1772), I. 132. [The ship] made fowle water by striking as she passed over the Riffe, which is a long bank of sand.

1756.  C. Lucas, Ess. Waters, I. 35. The Seine in France, whose course is not deemed much less precipitate, than that of the Rhine, is foul and turbid as the Avon below Bristol, or as any troubled, stagnant water.

1769.  Falconer, Dict. Marine (1789), Eau changée, foul water; or water whose colour is changed by approaching the shore, or otherwise.

1805.  T. Lindley, Voy. Brasil (1808), 48. I found my breast oppressed with breathing the foul air, and I felt a headach and dizziness.

1817.  Coleridge, Sibyl. Leaves (1862), 271.

1851.  Greenwell, Coal-trade Terms Northumb. & Durh., 26. Foul, in an inflammable state, from fire-damp having accumulated.

1885.  Manch. Exam., 5 June, 5/2. Old workings charged with foul gas.

1891.  E. Peacock, Narcissa Brendon, I. 2. Coal pits … make the atmosphere foul with smoke.

  b.  Dirty-colored, discolored. Also fig. rare.

1601.  Shaks., All’s Well that ends Well, I. iii. 6. We would our Modestie, and make foule the clearnesse of our deseruings, whenof our selues we publish them.

1657.  R. Ligon, Barbadoes (1673), 12. Those teeth, which at a distance appear’d rarely white, are yellow and foul.

1717.  trans. Frezier’s Voy. S. Sea, 183. They drive a Trade of Glass made with Saltpeter; it is green, foul, and ill wrought.

1799.  G. Smith, Laboratory, I. 136. Take pigeon’s dung; moisten it with alum-water, to the consistence of a paste: put this into a glass, big enough to hold four times the quantity; put into this your yellow-coloured or foul pearls, so that they may be covered all over.

  5.  Of food: Coarse, gross, rank. Hence, applied to the eating of such food, or the eaters of it (in present use, with the stronger notion of feeding on unclean or putrid food).

1709.  H. Felton, Diss. Classics (1713), 66. They [meaner Critics] are all for rank and foul Feeding, and spoil the best Provisions in the Cooking.

1726.  Shelvocke, Voy. round World (1757), 256. Not one of us had an hour’s sickness, notwithstanding we fed on such foul diet as we did, without bread or salt.

1727.  Arbuthnot, John Bull, Postscript, ch x. How the Esq; from a Foul-feeder, grew dainty.

Mod.  The vulture is a foul feeder.

  b.  Of a horse: Sluggish from want of exercise. † Hence, torpid. [Cf. Ger. faul lazy.]

1580.  J. Frampton, Monarde’s Dial. of Yron & Steele, 133. For if they cast the iuyce vppon him, it maketh him fowle [Sp. lo entorpece], and if they put it into his mouth and that hee swallowe it downe, he dyeth.

1737.  H. Bracken, Farriery Impr. (1757), II. 92. Any Horse that has too little Exercise, and is what we call Foul, may puff and blow when moved quick up a Hill.

  6.  Clogged, choked, or encumbered with something foreign. Cf. CLEAN a. 3 b. a. gen. ? Obs.

c. 1470.  Henry the Minstrel, Wallace, II. 376.

1572.  Huloet, Fowle corn, being full of weedis.

1759.  B. Martin, Nat. Hist. Eng., I. Devon., 31. The Head of it [the River Isca] lies in a fowl, barren Ground, and rises after a very uncommon Manner.

1793.  Trans. Soc. Arts (ed. 2), V. 77. The opportunity it gives farmers to clean their ground, that is either foul of weeds or grass.

1809.  Med. Jrnl., XXI. 75. In all parts of the East Indies, near swamps, muddy banks, and foul shores, the same danger attends Europeans.

  b.  of a gun-barrel, or a chimney.

1674.  S. Vincent, Gallant’s Acad., 17. The Body of it [a gun] is fowl … by being too much heated.

1800.  W. Saunders, Min. Waters, 32. Those natural waters which emit that peculiar offensive odour, that has been compared to the smell of rotten eggs, or rather, to the scourings of a foul gun barrel.

1846.  Greener, Sc. Gunnery, 137. If the gun be allowed to get very foul, the friction is increased, and of course, a still greater pressure is thrown on the tube of the barrel.

1860–1.  Flo. Nightingale, Nursing, 24. If your chimney is foul, sweep it; but don’t expect that you can ever air a room with only one opening; don’t suppose that to shut up a room is the way to keep it clean.

  c.  Naut. Foul bottom, coast, ground (see quot. 1867). Also, of a ship: Having the bottom overgrown with seaweed, shell-fish, etc.

1622.  R. Hawkins, Voy. S. Sea (1847), 117. The norther part of the bay hath foule ground, and rockes under water.

1683.  W. Hacke, Collect. Orig. Voy., 1. (1699) 23. Though we were so fortunate as to have the Sight of her, yet she out-sailed us, she being clean, and we as foul as we could be: However, we gave her Chase a whole Day, though to no purpose.

1717.  trans. Frezier’s Voy. S. Sea, 293. When it was Day found ourselves within a League of the Coast, the Sea running high, the Wind in Gusts, and the Rain pouring, which made us fear, because the Coast is foul.

1790.  Beatson, Nav. & Mil. Mem., II. 405. The Monmouth now became very foul and leaky, Captain Hervey was reluctantly obliged to quit his station.

1808.  Forsyth, Beauties Scotl., V. 515. The navigation of the Sound of Ilay is dangerous; not only from the rapidity of the tides, running six miles an hour, and from the sudden squalls which come from the neighbouring hills, but also from foul ground.

1867.  Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Foul Bottom.… The bottom of the sea if rocky, or unsafe from wrecks, and thence a danger of fouling the anchor. Foul Coast. One beset with reefs and breakers, offering dangerous impediments to navigation. Foul Ground. Synonymous with foul bottom.

1875.  Bedford, Sailor’s Pocket-bk., v. (ed. 2), 157. If shoaler water be found, requiring further or more extended examination, the launch should be sent in the direction of the foul ground to anchor on a given bearing at a distance of not over three miles from the ship.

  † d.  Of plants: Infested with insect parasites. Cf. FILTH 2 c. ? Obs.

1811.  Sporting Mag., XXXVII. 33. The peas fine, but foul [with plant-lice].

  e.  Path. Of the tongue: Coated with fur, furred.

1800.  Med. Jrnl., IV. 422. We misunderstand one of the most common appearances, and that it leads us, in consequence, to a wrong mode of practice, I mean a foul tongue.

1849.  Claridge, Cold Water-cure, 169. Foul tongue and pain at the pit of the stomach: a lady having tried all other remedies, was ordered the following, which answered admirably.

  7.  Morally or spiritually polluted; abominable, detestable, wicked. For Foul fiend, see FIEND. Foul thief: the devil. Foul spirit = unclean spirit. Cf. CLEAN a. 4.

a. 1000.  Crist, 1482 (Gr.).

a. 1175.  Cott. Hom., 243. Euel ȝeþanc and fule lustes.

c. 1205.  Lay., 27634. His fule saule sæh in-to helle.

c. 1275.  Death, 205, in O. E. Misc., 181.

1297.  R. Glouc. (1724), 380.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 7443 (Gött.).

c. 1320.  Sir Tristr., 1007. Þou lexst a foule lesing.

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Pars. T., ¶ 72. Ne a fouler thral may no man ne womman maken of his body than for to yeuen his body to synne.

c. 1420.  Metr. St. Kath. (Halliw.), 10. Helle hounde, thou fowle wyght.

c. 1425.  Seven Sag. (P.), 681.

1526.  Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 129 b. Theyr suggestions & thoughtes be foule & unprofytable.

1526–34.  Tindale, Rev. xviii. 2. Grett Babilon is fallen ys fallen, and ys becum the habitacion of devels and the holde off all fowle sprettes.

1610.  Shaks., Temp., IV. i. 139.

1679.  Penn, Addr. Prot., II. v. (1692), 185–6. If we must be Led, it had been easier for us to have been born Blind, we might have better follow’d then the Dog and the Bell; for we could not mend our selves; but to see, and to be Led; and that in ways we see to be foul or wrong; this is Anxious.

1719.  Watts, Ps. cxxi. (L. M.), 25.

1781.  Cowper, Expostulation, 213.

1817.  Coleridge, Sibyl. Leaves (1862), 216.

1838.  Thirlwall, Greece, IV. 267. If seems at first sight as if in this work Aristophanes must stand convicted either of the foulest motives or of a gross mistake.

1855.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., III. 60. His predecessors had bequeathed to him a court foul with all the vices of the Restoration.

  ellipt.

1788.  Picken, Poems, 81.

  † b.  Guilty of a charge or accusation; criminally implicated. Obs. Cf. CLEAN a. 4 b.

a. 1300.  [see CLEAN a. 4 b].

1575.  Churchyard, Chippes (1817), 194.

c. 1575.  Balfour, Practicks (1754), 611. Efter the offendar be anis fund foul of the first offence.

1621.  Elsing, Debates Ho. Lords (Camden), 36. Twedy is very fowle in this buissines.

  8.  Of speech, etc.: Filthy, obscene; also, disgustingly abusive.

a. 1000.  Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 458. Obscæne, þære fulan.

c. 1450.  Grosseteste’s Househ. Stat., in Babees Bk., 330. That they be-haue them selfe honestly, with-out stryffe, fowlespekyng, and noyse.

1477.  Earl Rivers (Caxton), Dictes, 15. Beware that in your Ire or Indignacion ther escape out of your mouth noo foule wordes.

c. 1530.  H. Rhodes, Bk. Nurture, 107, in Babees Bk., 74. Foule speech deserues a double hate.

1590.  Spenser, F. Q., I. v. 50.

1603.  Shaks., Meas. for M., V. i. 309.

1757.  Affect. Narr. Wager, 32. He poured out a deal of foul Language.

1833.  Ht. Martineau, Three Ages, ii. 47. The lords and gentlemen present had made the fiddler drunk, and set them in that state to sing all the foul songs with which their professional memories could furnish them.

1834.  Medwin, Angler in Wales, I. 145. If you don’t stop that foul mouth of yours, I’ll drive some of your teeth down your throat to join the cwrw.

1852.  Miss Yonge, Cameos, I. xii. 80. ‘Keep your money and your foul tongue to yourself,’ answered William; and Anselm gave the money to the poor.

  9.  † a. Of persons: Ceremonially unclean. Of food: Defiling, not fit for use. Obs.

c. 1000.  Ælfric, Judg. xiii. 4. Ne naht fules ne þicȝe!

c. 1400.  Maundev. (Roxb.), xi. 41. So foule men schuld noȝt comme in to so haly place.

  b.  In mod. use applied to fish at or immediately after spawning. Cf. CLEAN a. 5 b. † c. See quot., and cf. CLEAN a. 5 d; also foul-cut in C. 6.

1811.  Sporting Mag., XXXVIII. Aug., 212/2. He was very violent, and in the witness’s opinion was nothing but a foul horse—not a complete gelding.

  † 10.  Of language, diction: Incorrect, inelegant. Obs.^–1 Cf. FAIR a. 4, CLEAN a. 7 a.

1303.  R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 8627. To my sawe blame may be leyde For foule englysshe.

  III.  Opposed to FAIR a.

  11.  Of persons and material objects: Ugly. Now rare in literary use, but in many (midl. and north.) dialects the current sense. Cf. FAIR a. 1 a.

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Wife’s Prol., 265.

1393.  Langl., P. Pl., C. XIX. 54.

1413.  Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton, 1483), IV. ii. 58. Whiche worme soo had forfaren these pepyns and corrumped them withynne, that they myght nought kyndely sprynge to a fayre appel tree, but to fowle buskes and wylde.

1483.  Caxton, G. de la Tour, G vij. Soone after another [sone] they hadde whiche was fowle and lame.

1509.  York Manual (Surtees), 27. For fayrer for fouler.

1533.  Frith, Another Bk. agst. Rastell (1829), 225. He hath made a foul hole in his kinsman’s best coat.

1568.  Tilney, Disc. Mariage, E vij. Daylie we maye see a foule deformed woman, that truely seareth, and serueth God.

1583.  Hollyband, Campo di Fior, 15. Thou callest me fowle [Fr. laide, It. brutta] wenche.

1603.  Knolles, Hist. Turks (1621), 53. Hee was set upon a foule lean cammell.

1604.  Shaks., Oth., II. i. 141.

1616.  W. Browne, Brit. Past., II. i. 10. None could be foule esteem’d, compar’d with her.

1836.  Emerson, Nature, Beauty, Wks. (Bohn), II. 145. There is no object so foul that intense light will not make beautiful.

1841.  Trench, Parables, xii. (1877), 232. He loved her foul, that He might make her fair.

  b.  Of a part of an animal: ? Ill-shaped. ? Obs.

1688.  Lond. Gaz., No. 2336/8. Lost … a middle-siz’d Fleet-Hound Bitch, very strong made … a foul stern. Ibid. (1703), 3881/4. Stolen … a thick punching Horse … a little white on one of his Heels, and a foul Head.

[1765:  cf. 20 a.]

  † c.  Unattractive, poor in quality. Obs.

1535.  Coverdale, 1 Sam. xv. 9. What was foule and nothinge worth, that they damned.

1606.  Shaks., Tr. & Cr., I. iii. 359.

  † d.  Of the face: Disfigured by distress or tears.

c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, 8507. Thies fellyn hym to fete with a foule chere.

1611.  Bible, Job xvi. 16. My face is fowle with weeping, and on mine eye-lids is the shadow of death.

  12.  Of sounds: Ugly, disagreeable. Now dial. (Common in north midlands). Cf. FAIR a. 2.

c. 1440.  York Myst., xxxi. 320. O! ȝe make a foule noyse for þe nonys.

1568.  Grafton, Chron., II. 274. The Genowayes againe the seconde time made another leape and a foule crie.

1606.  Holland, Sueton., 81. Hee commaunded the Frogges to keepe silence, that about the mannour of his Grandsires by the Cittie side, chaunced to make a foule noyse.

  13.  Disgraceful, ignominious, shameful. Cf. 7.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 7829 (Gött.). A fouler dede þan ani may driue.

c. 1400.  An Apology for Lollard Doctrines, 55. Þe Son of God wold be condempnid to fowlist deþ.

c. 1430.  Sir Amadace (Camd.), ii. Thenne made I a fulle fowle ende!

1529.  More, A Dialoge of Comfort against Tribulacion, III. Wks. 1213/2. This vngracious secte of Machomet shal haue a foule fal, & christendom spryng & spread floure, and encrease again.

1559.  Mirr. Mag., Northumberland, xi.

1590.  Shaks., Mids. N., III. ii. 197.

1659.  D. Pell, Impr. Sea, 605. This is a foul blot in the Sailors Scutchion.

1756.  C. Lucas, Ess. Waters, II. 144. I should be glad, it were possible to acquit the college of physicians of Liege of this foul charge.

1808.  Scott, Marm., VI. xv.

  14.  Sporting and Games. Contrary to rule or established custom, irregular, unfair; said also of the player. Foul ball (Baseball): a ball struck so that it falls outside the lines drawn from the home base through the first and third bases. Cf. FAIR a. 10.

1797.  Sporting Mag., IX. Feb., 283/1. Victory was decided in favour of Wood, his antagonist having struck him two foul blows.

a. 1861.  Mrs. Browning, Last Poems, Garibaldi, i.

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 C. Bentinck, ii. 48. Colonel Leigh, who had the management of the Prince Regent’s stud, accused Sam Chifney of foul riding.

  b.  esp. in Foul play: unfair conduct in a game; transf. unfair or treacherous dealing, often with the additional notion of roughness or violence: see 17. So also † foul player. Cf. fair-play, FAIR a. 10 c.

[Cf. c. 1440.  in 17.]

1580.  Lyly, Euphues (Arb.), 289. Foule gamesters, who hauing lost the maine by true iudgement, thinke to face it out with a false oath.

1610.  Shaks., Temp., I. ii. 58. What fowle play had we, that we came from thence?

c. 1672.  Wood, Life (Oxf. Hist. Soc.), I. 383. They supposing, not without good ground, that Dr. Thomas Jones, one of their society, would act foul play in the election.

1674.  trans. Scheffer’s Lapland, 109. If one side chance to strike the ball with their bandies over the others line (for it is foul play to fling it with their hands) and so take their goal, that is accounted the conquering side. Ibid. Any one that is found delinquent in this kind, is branded for a fowl plaier, and excluded the lifts.

1737.  M. Green, Spleen (1738), 21.

1814.  Sporting Mag., XLIV. 241. After the fifteenth round ‘Foul play!’ was loudly called.

1825.  Lytton, Zicci, 5. There can be no foul play at the public tables, especially when foul play would make against the bank.

1887.  Rider Haggard, Jess, xxii. At any rate that does not look like foul play, unless, indeed, he has gone on to prepare a warm reception for us.

  c.  † Of a return: Fraudulent (obs.). Also, in foul loss: see quot. 1848.

1685.  Luttrell, Brief Rel. (1857), I. 341. Foul returns [of elections] made in many places.

1848.  Arnould, Mar. Insur. (1866), II. III. ix. 1004–5. If, after a loss has been paid, the underwriter discovers that there was fraud, misrepresentation or concealment…. Such payment is familiarly termed in insurance law a foul loss.

  † d.  Foul honesty: (? an oxymoron) false pretence of honesty. Obs.

1550.  Hooper, Serm. on Jonas, iii. 40 b. Then washeth he hys handes with as much foule honestie as he can.

  15.  Of the weather, etc.: Unfavorable; wet and stormy. Cf. FAIR a. 12.

c. 1380.  Wyclif, Serm., Sel. Wks. I. 101. Foule wedir and coold.

a. 1541.  Wyatt, in Warton, Hist. Eng. Poetry (1840), III. xxxviii. 47.

1595.  Shaks., John, IV. ii. 108. So foule a skie, cleeres not without a storme.

1628.  Digby, Voy. Medit. (1868), 9. And att night wee had foule weather.

1661.  Pepys, Diary, 19 April. So foule that I could not go to White Hall to see the Knights of the Bath made to-day, which do trouble me mightily.

1719.  De Foe, Crusoe, I. xiii. It blew a very great Storm of Wind, all Day, with a great deal of Lightning, and Thunder, and a very foul Night it was after it.

1776.  Adam Smith, W. N., I. x. (1869), I. 107. A mason or bricklayer, on the contrary, can work neither in hard frost nor in foul weather.

1865.  Parkman, Champlain, iii. (1875), 228. Behind it, and near the water, was a long, covered gallery, for labor or amusement in foul weather.

  16.  Of the wind: Contrary, unfavorable.

1726.  G. Roberts, Four Years’ Voy., 3. Proving but untoward Weather, as well as a foul Wind, obliged us to lie there near a Month.

1795.  Nelson, 22 May, in Nicolas, Disp., II. 39. Continued foul winds for his Lordship, from the day of our sailing from Leghorn.

1883.  S. C. Hall, Retrospect, II. 300. The packet could not sail in the teeth of a foul wind, or, after starting, had to ‘give in’ and put back to wait for a change.

  17.  Of a means or procedure, and of language: Harsh, rough, violent. Cf. FAIR a. 15.

c. 1440.  Gesta Rom., lx. 248 (Harl. MS.). Tristing in him selfe that the lion wolde have I-made a foule pleye withe þe lorde & withe þe lady.

1592.  Shaks., Ven. & Ad., 571.

1608.  Yorksh. Trag., I. vii.

1639.  T. Brugis, trans. Camus’ Moral Relat., 171. He would not have gathered by faire meanes or foule, that which he so impatiently desired.

1659.  D. Pell, Impr. Sea, 79. Some of you get foul checks.

1704.  [see FAIR a. 15].

1856.  Emerson, Eng. Traits, Aristocracy, Wks. II. 85. War is a foul game, and yet war is not the worst part of aristocratic history.

  18.  Naut., opposed to clear: ‘Entangled, embarrassed, or contrary to’ (Adm. Smyth). Const. of, † on. To fall, run foul of: see the vbs. Foul berth, hawse: see quot. 1867.

1627.  Capt. Smith, Seaman’s Gram., xiii. 61. Captaine we are fowle on each other, and the ship is on fire, cut any thing to get cleare, and smother the fire with wet cloathes.

1697.  Dampier, Voy., I. x. 303. She stood off to the Southward of the Island, and coming foul of the same shole that our Bark had run over before, was in great danger of being lost there.

1743.  Bulkeley & Cummins, Voy. S. Seas, 115. In weighing the Grapenel, in order to go to the Cove, we found it foul among some Rocks.

1748.  Anson’s Voy., I. i. 10. And we were in no small danger of driving foul of the Prince Frederick.

1769.  Falconer, Dict. Marine (1789). Tour de cable, a foul hawse; a turn or elbow in the hawse.

1822.  G. W. Manby, Voy. Greenland (1823), 13. A small axe to cut away the line, in case of its getting foul when running out.

1839.  Marryat, F. Mildmay, xxiii. ‘What’s the matter forward?’ said the captain. ‘Topsail-tie is foul, my lord,’ answered the first lieutenant.

1840.  R. H. Dana, Bef. Mast, vii. 16. As the southerly wind draws round the mountains and comes off in uncertain flaws, we [the ship] were continually swinging round, and had thus got a very foul hawse.

1867.  Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Foul Berth. When a ship anchors in the hawse of another she gives the latter a foul berth; or she may anchor on one tide so near as to swing foul on the change either of wind or tide. Foul Hawse. When a vessel is riding with two anchors out, and the cables are crossed round each other outside the stem by the swinging of the ship when moored in a tide-way.

  b.  Foul anchor: see quot. 1769. Also, the badge of the British Admiralty.

1769.  Falconer, Dict. Marine (1789). Foul Anchor: it is so called when it either hooks some other anchor, wreck, or cable, under the surface of the water; or when, by the wind suddenly abating, the ship slackens her strain, and straying round the bed of her anchor, entangles her slack cable about the upper fluke of it.

1840.  R. H. Dana, Bef. Mast, xiii. 31. On one of his broad arms he had the crucifixion, and on the other the sign of the ‘foul anchor.’

1882.  Nares, Seamanship (ed. 6), 203. Put a foul-anchor strop round the crown if clear, if not on the shank, just below the crown.

  19.  Of a charge of powder.

1799.  G. Smith, Laboratory, I. 9. If it [the rocket] rises a little, and falls back, the charge is foul and weak.

  IV.  20. Comb. a. parasynthetic, as foul-aired, -browed, faced, -minded (hence foulmindedness), -thighed, -tongued, -vizored. Also FOUL-MOUTHED.

1883.  H. H. Jackson, Father Junipero and His Work, in Century Mag., XXVI. June, 213. Great flocks of wild doves live in the roof, and have made the whole place unclean and *foul-aired.

1610.  Healey, St. Augustine, Of the Citie of God, 765. The holy and faithfull seruants of the true God are in danger of the deuills manifold ambushes: for as long as they liue in this fraile, and *foule browed world, they must be so.

1602.  2nd Pt. Return fr. Parnass., I. i. (Arb.), 7.

1849.  Kingsley, Poetry Sacr. & Leg. Art, Misc. I. 244. So thoroughly has the Virgin Mary, as especial patroness of purity, been intermixed, as a matter of course, in her legends, with every form of prudish and prurient *foulmindedness.

1765.  Treat. Dom. Pigeons, 95. Let it [another colour] fall here, or on any other part of the thigh, it is called *foul-thigh’d.

1549.  Coverdale, etc., Erasm. Par. Rom. iii. 8. As *foule tounged people falsly reporte.

1608.  Machin, Dumb Knight, I. i.

  b.  in attrib. (quasi-adj.) uses of foul weather (sense 15); also foul-weather-like adj.

1768.  Wales, in Phil. Trans., LX. 108. Over these they have a kind of foul-weather jacket.

c. 1793.  Spirit Pub. Jrnls. (1799), I. 75. I don’t care a stale chaw of tobacco for the foul-weather looks of any fair-weather Jack in the three kingdoms.

1837.  Marryat, Snarleyyow; or The Dog Fiend, xii. He remained in his long threadbare great-coat and foul-weather hat.

1793.  Smeaton, Edystone L., § 275. As the sky began to look foul weather-like, I endeavoured to see every thing put into the best posture for receiving a storm.

  B.  sb. [The adj. used absol. or elliptically.]

  1.  That which is foul (in senses of the adj.); something foul. For foul nor fair: on no account, by no means. For foul befall see note on FAIR sb.² 1.

a. 900.  Halsuncge, in Sweet, O. E. Texts, 176. Ðis mon … seal reda ofer ða feta ðe ful infalleð.

a. 1000.  Elene, 767.

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Man of Law’s T., 525.

c. 1400.  Sowdone Bab., 198.

1430.  Lydgate, Chronicle of Troy, I. v.

c. 1470.  Henry the Minstrel, Wallace, I. 430. Foule mot yow fall.

1477.  Norton, Ord. Alch., iv. in Ashm. (1652), 47.

1594.  J. Dickenson, Arisbas (1878), 54.

1768.  Sterne, Sent. Journ. (1778), II. 7. I see innocence, my dear, in your face—and foul befal the man who ever lays a snare in its way!

Prov.

a. 1661.  Fuller, Worthies, Cheshire, I. (1662), 177. Frost and Fraud both end in Foul.

  2.  A disease in the feet of cattle and sheep. Also, a disease in dogs (see quot. 1854). Cf. FILE sb.² 6 b.

1523.  Fitzherbert, The Boke of Husbandry, § 63. There be bestes, that wyll haue the foule and that is betwene the cleese, sometyme before, and some tyme behynde, and it wyll swell, and cause hym to halt.

1614.  Markham, Cheap Husb., II. xxiii. (1668), 79. Troubled with that disease which is called the Foule.

1737.  H. Bracken, Farriery Impr. (1756), I. 315. What the Cow-Leeches term the Foul in a Cow’s Foot.

1810.  Ann. Reg., 629. I have had them disordered in the feet with the fouls, but not the foot-rot.

1854.  E. Mayhew, Dogs (1861), 114. Foul is not one disease, but an accumulation of disorders, brought on by the absence of exercise, with a stimulating diet.

  3.  (In sense partly derived from FOUL v.) A collision or entanglement, esp. in riding, rowing, running, etc.; an irregular stroke, piece of play, etc. To claim a foul: to claim a favorable award because of unfair action on the part of an opponent. In Baseball: A foul hit: see A. 14.

1754.  Dict. Arts & Sc., II. 1311/1. Foul imports, also, the running of one ship against another.

1864.  Home News, 19 Dec., 21/2. Coombes … boring his opponent too closely to the shore, a foul occurred.

1867.  F. Francis, Angling, v. (1880), 150. The drop will fall over the stretcher, and a foul will be the consequence.

1873.  Bennett, Billiards, 480. The player who made the foul must follow suit.

189[?].  Billiard Rules, xix. A player may claim a foul if he sees his opponent touch a ball … (except with his cue, when making a stroke).

  C.  adv. [In early ME. fule, foule, f. the adj. with advb. ending -e; after 14th c. not distinguished in form from the adj.]

  † 1.  In a manner offensive to the sense of smell.

c. 1200.  Ormin, 1200.

c. 1275.  The XI Pains of Hell, 123, in O. E. Misc., 150. Þe stude … stinkeþ fulre þane þe hund.

a. 1300.  Cursor Mundi, 18147 (Cott.). Þou hell, sua fule stinkand thing. Ibid. (c. 1340), 6353 (Trin.). Þe wattres þat so foule stank.

1563.  W. Fulke, Meteors (1640), 67 b. Lead also … which maketh it to bee in colour so black and so fowle to corrupt.

  † 2.  In an ugly manner. To fare foul: To behave in an unseemly way, ‘go on’ outrageously.

a. 1366[?].  Chaucer, Rom. Rose, 155.

a. 1400–50.  Alexander, 4081.

c. 1425.  Seven Sag. (P.), 482.

c. 1450.  Merlin, 116. Foule were thei skorched with the fier.

  † 3.  Disgracefully, shamefully. Obs. To call (a person) foul: to call by a bad name. Obs.

c. 1275.  Doomsday, 47, in O. E. Misc., 164.

c. 1325.  Poem temp. Edw. II. (Percy), lxi. He shal be foul afrounted.

1362.  Langl., P. Pl., A. III. 179. And þou hast famed me foule · bifore the kyng heere.

1385.  Chaucer, L. G. W., 1307, Dido. Ye wil nat fro your wyt thus foule fleen? Ibid. (c. 1386), Pars. T., ¶ 741. He leseth foule his good bat ne seketh with the yifte of his good no thyng but synne.

c. 1430.  How Wise Man tauȝt Son, 100, in Babees Bk., 51. To calle hir foule it is þi schame.

a. 1450.  Knt. de la Tour (1868), 13. [In confession] ye shulde telle the synne as foule as ye do it, and in the same manere.

c. 1450.  Merlin, 12. Hir bewte was foule spente, seth it was loste in soche manere.

1594.  Shaks., Rich. III., III. ii. 44.

  4.  † a. Badly, ill, grievously. Obs.

a. 1225.  Ancr. R., 108. Heo is a grucchild, & ful itowen.

c. 1340.  Cursor Mundi, 1639 (Trin). Þe erþe wiþ synne is foul shent.

1366[?].  Chaucer, Rom. Rose, 1061. They … foule abate the folkes prys.

1377.  Langl., P. Pl., B. X. 472.

c. 1400.  Rom. Rose, 2655. Than shalt thou goon, ful foule aferd.

1426.  W. Paston, in P. Lett., No. 7, I. 26. I am foule and noysyngly vexed with hem.

c. 1460.  Towneley Myst. (Surtees), 114. Ille spou weft, I wys, ay commys foulle owte.

1590.  Spenser, F. Q., I. v. 23.

  b.  Not in the correct or regular manner.

1683.  Lond. Gaz., No. 1840/4. [He] trots and gallops foul. Ibid. (1686), No. 2136/4. Stolen or stray’d … a red roan Gelding … trots foul … cuts behind. Ibid. (1715), No. 5331/4. Carries his Tail foul.

1884.  Western Daily Press, 16 April, 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.

  5.  Unfairly; contrary to the rules of the game. Also fig. in To play (a person) foul: to deal treacherously with.

1707.  Reflex. upon Ridicule, 261. You are fond of Gaming, and you Play foul.

1755.  Young, Centaur, iii. Wks. 1757, IV. 173. He that plays foul the most dexterously, is sure to be undone.

1799.  Nelson, 17 Oct., in Nicolas, Disp., IV. 60. Our Allies have, in so many instances, played us foul, that they are not to be trusted.

  6.  Comb., as foul-feeding, -reeking, -smelling, -spoken adjs.; also foul-biting sb. (see quot.); foul-cut a., imperfectly gelded (cf. FOUL a. 9 c).

1822.  Imison, Elements of Science and Art, II. 429. Otherwise you will have parts bit that were not intended, which is called *foul-biting.

1811.  Sporting Mag., XXXVIII. Aug., 213/1. It was a *foul-cut horse. It acted like a stallion, and then kicked.

1634.  Bp. Hall, Serm., Rom. xii. 2. Wks. II. 301. There is an appetitus caninus, that passing by wholesome viands, falls upon unmeet and *foule-feeding morsels.

1684.  Otway, Atheist, I. i. You sent me to nurse, where I sucked two years at the dirty Dugs of a foul-feeding Witch.

1593.  Shaks., Lucr., 709.

1869.  E. A. Parkes, A Manual of Practical Hygiene (ed. 3), 55. In the case of any *foul-smelling or suspected water, add good Condy’s fluid, teaspoonful by teaspoonful, to 3 or 4 gallons of water, stirring constantly.

1588.  Shaks., Tit. A., II. i. 58.

1848.  Hare, Guesses, Ser. II. (1873), 527. They who are too fairspoken before you, are likely to be foulspoken behind you.