Foster Fos"ter intransitive verb To be nourished or trained up together. [ Obsolete] Spenser.

Foster Fos"ter adjective [ Anglo-Saxon fōster , fōstor , nourishment. See Foster , transitive verb ] Relating to nourishment; affording, receiving, or sharing nourishment or nurture; -- applied to father, mother, child, brother, etc., to indicate that the person so called stands in the relation of parent, child, brother, etc., as regards sustenance and nurture, but not by tie of blood.

Foster babe, or child , an infant of child nursed by a woman not its mother, or bred by a man not its father. -- Foster brother , Foster sister , one who is, or has been, nursed at the same breast, or brought up by the same nurse as another, but is not of the same parentage. -- Foster dam , one who takes the place of a mother; a nurse. Dryden. -- Foster earth , earth by which a plant is nourished, though not its native soil. J. Philips. -- Foster father , a man who takes the place of a father in caring for a child. Bacon. -- Foster land . (a) Land allotted for the maintenance of any one. [ Obsolete] (b) One's adopted country. -- Foster lean [ foster + Anglo-Saxon læn a loan See Loan .], remuneration fixed for the rearing of a foster child; also, the jointure of a wife. [ Obsolete] Wharton. -- Foster mother , a woman who takes a mother's place in the nurture and care of a child; a nurse. -- Foster nurse , a nurse; a nourisher. [ R.] Shak. -- Foster parent , a foster mother or foster father. -- Foster son , a male foster child.

Foster Fos"ter noun A forester. [ Obsolete] Spenser.

Fosterage Fos"ter·age noun The care of a foster child; the charge of nursing. Sir W. Raleigh.

Fosterer Fos"ter·er noun One who, or that which, fosters.

Fosterling Fos"ter·ling noun [ Anglo-Saxon fōstorling .] A foster child.

Fosterment Fos"ter·ment noun Food; nourishment. [ Obsolete]

Fostress Fos"tress noun [ For fosteress .] A woman who feeds and cherishes; a nurse. B. Jonson.

Fother Foth"er noun [ Middle English fother , foder , Anglo-Saxon fō...er a cartload; akin to German fuder a cartload, a unit of measure, Old High German fuodar , Dutch voeder , and perhaps to English fathom , or confer Sanskrit pātrā vessel, dish. Confer Fodder a fother.] 1. A wagonload; a load of any sort. [ Obsolete]

Of dung full many a fother .

Chaucer.

2. See Fodder , a unit of weight.

Fother Foth"er transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Fothered ; present participle & verbal noun Fothering .] [ Confer Fodder food, and German füttern , futtern , to cover within or without, to line. √75.] To stop (a leak in a ship at sea) by drawing under its bottom a thrummed sail, so that the pressure of the water may force it into the crack. Totten.

Fotive Fo"tive adjective [ Latin fovere , fotum , to keep warm, to cherish.] Nourishing. [ Obsolete] T. Carew (1633).

Fotmal Fot"mal noun (Com.) Seventy pounds of lead.

Foucault current Fou`cault" cur`rent [ After J. B. Latin Foucault (1819-68), French physicist.] (Electricity) An eddy current.

Fougade Fou`gade" Fou`gasse" noun (Mil.) A small mine, in the form of a well sunk from the surface of the ground, charged with explosive and projectiles. It is made in a position likely to be occupied by the enemy.

Fought Fought imperfect & past participle of Fight .

Foughten Fought"en past participle of Fight . [ Archaic]

Foul Foul (foul) noun [ See Fowl .] A bird. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Foul Foul (foul) adjective [ Compar. Fouler (-ẽr); superl. Foulest .] [ Middle English foul , ful , Anglo-Saxon fūl ; akin to Dutch vuil , German faul rotten, Old High German fūl , Icelandic fūl foul, fetid; Danish fuul , Swedish ful foul, Goth. fūls fetid, Lithuanian puti to be putrid, Latin putere to stink, be putrid, pus pus, Greek py`on pus, to cause to rot, Sanskrit pūy to stink. √82. Confer 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. [ Obsolete] 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 . (Nautical) 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 (Nautical) , 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. [ Obsolete] "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 Foul transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Fouled ; present participle & verbal noun 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 Foul intransitive verb 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 Foul noun 1. An entanglement; a collision, as in a boat race.

2. (Baseball) See Foul ball , under Foul , adjective

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

Foul-mouthed Foul"-mouthed` adjective Using language scurrilous, opprobrious, obscene, or profane; abusive.

So foul-mouthed a witness never appeared in any cause.

Addison.

Foul-spoken Foul"-spo`ken adjective Using profane, scurrilous, slanderous, or obscene language. Shak.

Foulard Fou`lard" noun [ French] A thin, washable material of silk, or silk and cotton, originally imported from India, but now also made elsewhere.

Foulder Foul"der intransitive verb [ Middle English fouldre lightning, from French foudre , Old French also fouldre , from Latin fulgur . See Fulgor .] To flash, as lightning; to lighten; to gleam; to thunder. [ Obsolete] "Flames of fouldering heat." Spenser.

Foule Foul"e adverb Foully. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Foully Foul"ly v. In a foul manner; filthily; nastily; shamefully; unfairly; dishonorably.

I foully wronged him; do forgive me, do.

Gay.

Foulness Foul"ness noun [ Anglo-Saxon fūlnes .] The quality or condition of being foul.

Foumart Fou"mart` noun [ Middle English folmard , fulmard ; Anglo-Saxon f...l foul + mearð , meard , marten: confer French marte , martre . See Foul , adjective , and Marten the quadruped.] (Zoology) The European polecat; -- called also European ferret , and fitchew . See Polecat . [ Written also foulmart , foulimart , and fulimart .]

Found Found imperfect & past participle of Find .

Found Found transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Founded ; present participle & verbal noun Founding .] [ French fondre , Latin fundere to found, pour.] To form by melting a metal, and pouring it into a mold; to cast. "Whereof to found their engines." Milton.

Found Found noun A thin, single-cut file for combmakers.

Found Found transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Founded ; present participle & verbal noun Founding .] [ French fonder , Latin fundare , from fundus bottom. See 1st Bottom , and confer Founder , intransitive verb , Fund .] 1. To lay the basis of; to set, or place, as on something solid, for support; to ground; to establish upon a basis, literal or figurative; to fix firmly.

I had else been perfect,
Whole as the marble, founded as the rock.

Shak.

A man that all his time
Hath founded his good fortunes on your love.

Shak.

It fell not, for it was founded on a rock.

Matt. vii. 25.

2. To take the ffirst steps or measures in erecting or building up; to furnish the materials for beginning; to begin to raise; to originate; as, to found a college; to found a family.

There they shall found
Their government, and their great senate choose.

Milton.

Syn. -- To base; ground; institute; establish; fix. See Predicate .

Foundation Foun·da"tion noun [ French fondation , Latin fundatio . See Found to establish.] 1. The act of founding, fixing, establishing, or beginning to erect.

2. That upon which anything is founded; that on which anything stands, and by which it is supported; the lowest and supporting layer of a superstructure; groundwork; basis.

Behold, I lay in Zion, for a foundation , a stone . . . a precious corner stone, a sure foundation .

Is. xxviii. 16.

The foundation of a free common wealth.

Motley.

3. (Architecture) The lowest and supporting part or member of a wall, including the base course (see Base course (a) , under Base , noun ) and footing courses; in a frame house, the whole substructure of masonry.

4. A donation or legacy appropriated to support a charitable institution, and constituting a permanent fund; endowment.

He was entered on the foundation of Westminster.

Macaulay.

5. That which is founded, or established by endowment; an endowed institution or charity.

Against the canon laws of our foundation .

Milton.

Foundation course . See Base course , under Base , noun -- Foundation muslin , an open-worked gummed fabric used for stiffening dresses, bonnets, etc. -- Foundation school , in England, an endowed school. -- To be on a foundation , to be entitled to a support from the proceeds of an endowment, as a scholar or a fellow of a college.

Foundationer Foun·da"tion·er noun One who derives support from the funds or foundation of a college or school. [ Eng.]

Foundationless Foun·da"tion·less adjective Having no foundation.

Founder Found"er noun [ Confer Old French fondeor , French fondateur , Latin fundator .] One who founds, establishes, and erects; one who lays a foundation; an author; one from whom anything originates; one who endows.

Founder Found"er noun [ From Found to cast.] One who founds; one who casts metals in various forms; a caster; as, a founder of cannon, bells, hardware, or types.

Fonder's dust . Same as Facing , 4. -- Founder's sand , a kind of sand suitable for purposes of molding.

Founder Found"er intransitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Foundered ; present participle & verbal noun Foundering .] [ Old French fondrer to fall in, confer French s'effondrer , from fond bottom, Latin fundus . See Found to establish.] 1. (Nautical) To become filled with water, and sink, as a ship.

2. To fall; to stumble and go lame, as a horse.

For which his horse fearé gan to turn,
And leep aside, and foundrede as he leep.

Chaucer.

3. To fail; to miscarry. "All his tricks founder ." Shak.

Founder Found"er transitive verb To cause internal inflammation and soreness in the feet or limbs of (a horse), so as to disable or lame him.

Founder Found"er noun (Far.) (a) A lameness in the foot of a horse, occasioned by inflammation; closh. (b) An inflammatory fever of the body, or acute rheumatism; as, chest founder . See Chest ffounder . James White.

Founderous Foun"der·ous adjective Difficult to travel; likely to trip one up; as, a founderous road. [ R.] Burke.

Foundershaft Found"er·shaft` noun (Mining) The first shaft sunk. Raymond.

Foundery Found"er·y noun ; plural Founderies . [ French fonderie , from fondre . See Found to cast, and confer Foundry .] Same as Foundry .

Founding Found"ing noun The art of smelting and casting metals.

Foundling Found"ling noun [ Middle English foundling , fundling ; finden to find + - ling ; confer fündling , findling . See Find , transitive verb , and -ling .] A deserted or exposed infant; a child found without a parent or owner.

Foundling hospital , a hospital for foundlings.

Foundress Found"ress noun A female founder; a woman who founds or establishes, or who endows with a fund.

Foundry Found"ry noun ; plural Foundries . [ See Foundery .] 1. The act, process, or art of casting metals.

2. The buildings and works for casting metals.

Foundry ladle , a vessel for holding molten metal and conveying it from cupola to the molds.

Fount Fount noun [ See Font .] (Print.) A font.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
You are here: Webster > Letter F > Page 68 of 91.
« Previous ¦60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 ¦ Next »