Fossoria noun plural [ New Latin ] (Zoology) See Fossores .

Fossorial adjective [ Latin fossor a digger.] Fitted for digging, adapted for burrowing or digging; as, a fossorial foot; a fossorial animal.

Fossorious adjective (Zoology) Adapted for digging; -- said of the legs of certain insects.

Fossulate adjective [ Latin fossula little ditch, dim. of fossa . See Fosse .] Having, or surrounded by, long, narrow depressions or furrows.

Foster transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Fostered , present participle & verbal noun Fostering .] [ Middle English fostren , from Anglo-Saxon fōster , fōstor , food, nourishment, from fōda food. √75. See Food .]
1. To feed; to nourish; to support; to bring up.

Some say that ravens foster forlorn children.

Shak.

2. To cherish; to promote the growth of; to encourage; to sustain and promote; as, to foster genius.

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

Foster 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 noun A forester. [ Obsolete] Spenser.

Fosterage noun The care of a foster child; the charge of nursing. Sir W. Raleigh.

Fosterer noun One who, or that which, fosters.

Fosterling noun [ Anglo-Saxon fōstorling .] A foster child.

Fosterment noun Food; nourishment. [ Obsolete]

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

Fother 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 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 adjective [ Latin fovere , fotum , to keep warm, to cherish.] Nourishing. [ Obsolete] T. Carew (1633).

Fotmal noun (Com.) Seventy pounds of lead.

Foucault current [ After J. B. Latin Foucault (1819-68), French physicist.] (Electricity) An eddy current.

Fougade 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 imperfect & past participle of Fight .

Foughten past participle of Fight . [ Archaic]

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

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 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 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 noun
1. An entanglement; a collision, as in a boat race.

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

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

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

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

Addison.

Foul-spoken adjective Using profane, scurrilous, slanderous, or obscene language. Shak.

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

Foulder 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 adverb Foully. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

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

I foully wronged him; do forgive me, do.

Gay.

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

Foumart 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 imperfect & past participle of Find .

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 noun A thin, single-cut file for combmakers.

Foundation 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 noun One who derives support from the funds or foundation of a college or school. [ Eng.]

Foundationless adjective Having no foundation.

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

Founder 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 adjective Difficult to travel; likely to trip one up; as, a founderous road. [ R.] Burke.

Foundershaft noun (Mining) The first shaft sunk. Raymond.

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