Foot


[foo t] /fʊt/

noun, plural feet for 1–4, 8–11, 16, 19, 21; foots for 20.
1.
(in vertebrates) the terminal part of the leg, below the ankle joint, on which the body stands and moves.
2.
(in invertebrates) any part similar in position or function.
3.
such a part considered as the organ of locomotion.
4.
a unit of length, originally derived from the length of the human foot. It is divided into 12 inches and equal to 30.48 centimeters.
Abbreviation: ft., f.
5.
foot soldiers; infantry.
6.
walking or running motion; pace:
swift of foot.
7.
quality or character of movement or motion; tread; step.
8.
any part or thing resembling a foot, as in function, placement, shape, etc.
9.
Furniture.

10.
a rim, flange, or flaring part, often distinctively treated, serving as a base for a table furnishing or utensil, as a glass, teapot, or candlestick.
11.
the part of a stocking, sock, etc., covering the foot.
12.
the lowest part, or bottom, of anything, as of a hill, ladder, page, etc.
13.
a supporting part; base.
14.
the part of anything opposite the top or head:
He waited patiently at the foot of the checkout line.
15.
the end of a bed, grave, etc., toward which the feet are placed:
Put the blanket at the foot of the bed, please.
16.
Printing. the part of the type body that forms the sides of the groove, at the base.
17.
the last, as of a series.
18.
that which is written at the bottom, as the total of an account.
19.
Prosody. a group of syllables constituting a metrical unit of a verse.
20.
Usually, foots.

21.
Nautical. the lower edge of a sail.
verb (used without object)
22.
to walk; go on foot (often followed by it):
We’ll have to foot it.
23.
to move the feet rhythmically, as to music or in dance (often followed by it).
24.
(of vessels) to move forward; sail:
to foot briskly across the open water.
verb (used with object)
25.
to walk or dance on:
footing the cobblestones of the old city.
26.
to perform (a dance):
cavaliers footing a galliard.
27.
to traverse on or as if on foot.
28.
to make or attach a foot to:
to foot a stocking.
29.
to pay or settle:
I always end up footing the bill.
30.
to add (a column of figures) and set the sum at the foot (often followed by up).
31.
to seize with talons, as a hawk.
32.
to establish.
33.
Archaic. to kick, especially to kick away.
34.
Obsolete. to set foot on.
Idioms
35.
get / have a / one’s foot in the door, to succeed in achieving an initial stage or step.
36.
get off on the right / wrong foot, to begin favorably or unfavorably:
He got off on the wrong foot with a tactless remark about his audience.
37.
have one foot in the grave. 1 (def 5).
38.
on foot, by walking or running, rather than by riding.
39.
put one’s best foot forward,

40.
put one’s foot down, to take a firm stand; be decisive or determined.
41.
put one’s foot in / into it, Informal. to make an embarrassing blunder.
Also, put one’s foot in/into one’s mouth.
42.
set foot on / in, to go on or into; enter:
Don’t set foot in this office again!
43.
under foot, in the way:
That cat is always under foot when I’m getting dinner.
/fʊt/
noun (pl) feet (fiːt)
1.
the part of the vertebrate leg below the ankle joint that is in contact with the ground during standing and walking related adjective pedal
2.
the part of a garment that covers a foot
3.
any of various organs of locomotion or attachment in invertebrates, including molluscs
4.
(botany) the lower part of some plant structures, as of a developing moss sporophyte embedded in the parental tissue
5.

6.
any part resembling a foot in form or function: the foot of a chair
7.
the lower part of something; base; bottom: the foot of the page, the foot of a hill
8.
the end of a series or group: the foot of the list
9.
manner of walking or moving; tread; step: a heavy foot
10.

11.
any of various attachments on a sewing machine that hold the fabric in position, such as a presser foot for ordinary sewing and a zipper foot
12.
(music)

13.
(printing)

14.
(prosody) a group of two or more syllables in which one syllable has the major stress, forming the basic unit of poetic rhythm
15.
a foot in the door, an action, appointment, etc, that provides an initial step towards a desired goal, esp one that is not easily attainable
16.
(Scot & Irish) kick with the wrong foot, to be of the opposite religion to that which is regarded as acceptable or to that of the person who is speaking
17.
my foot!, an expression of disbelief, often of the speaker’s own preceding statement: he didn’t know, my foot! Of course he did!
18.
(archaic) of foot, in manner of movement: fleet of foot
19.
on foot

20.
(informal) one foot in the grave, near to death
21.
(informal) on the right foot, in an auspicious manner
22.
(informal) on the wrong foot, in an inauspicious manner
23.
put a foot wrong, to make a mistake
24.
put one’s best foot forward

25.
(informal) put one’s foot down

26.
(informal) put one’s foot in it, to blunder
27.
set on foot, to initiate or start (something)
28.
tread under foot, to oppress
29.
under foot, on the ground; beneath one’s feet
verb
30.
to dance to music (esp in the phrase foot it)
31.
(transitive) to walk over or set foot on; traverse (esp in the phrase foot it)
32.
(transitive) to pay the entire cost of (esp in the phrase foot the bill)
33.
(usually foll by up) (archaic or dialect) to add up
/fʊt/
noun
1.
Michael (Mackintosh). 1913–2010, British Labour politician and journalist; secretary of state for employment (1974–76); leader of the House of Commons (1976–79); leader of the Labour Party (1980–83)
n.

Old English fot, from Proto-Germanic *fot (cf. Old Saxon fot, Old Norse fotr, Dutch voet, Old High German fuoz, German Fuß, Gothic fotus “foot”), from PIE *ped- (cf. Avestan pad-; Sanskrit pad-, accusative padam “foot;” Greek pos, Attic pous, genitive podos; Latin pes, genitive pedis “foot;” Lithuanian padas “sole,” peda “footstep”). Plural form feet is an instance of i-mutation. Of a bed, grave, etc., first recorded c.1300.

The linear measurement of 12 inches was in Old English, from the length of a man’s foot. Colloquial exclamation my foot! expressing “contemptuous contradiction” [OED] is first attested 1923, probably a euphemism for my ass, in the same sense, which dates back to 1796. The metrical foot (Old English, translating Latin pes, Greek pous in the same sense) is commonly taken as a reference to keeping time by tapping the foot.

To get off on the right foot is from 1905; to put one’s best foot foremost first recorded 1849 (Shakespeare has the better foot before, 1596). To put one’s foot in (one’s) mouth “say something stupid” is attested by 1942; the expression put (one’s) foot in something “make a mess of it” is from 1823.
v.

c.1400, “dance, move on foot,” from foot (n.). To foot a bill is attested from 1848, from the process of tallying the expenses and writing the figure at the bottom (“foot”) of the bill.

foot (fut)
n. pl. feet (fēt)

foot
(ft)
Plural feet (fēt)
A unit of length in the US Customary System equal to 1/3 of a yard or 12 inches (30.48 centimeters). See Table at measurement.

Related Terms

big foot, doughfoot, flatfoot, give someone the foot, have one foot in the grave, heavy-foot, hotfoot, put one’s foot in it, put one’s foot in one’s mouth, shoot oneself in the foot, tangle-foot, tenderfoot, web-foot

Read Also:

  • Footage

    [foo t-ij] /ˈfʊt ɪdʒ/ noun 1. length or extent in feet: the footage of lumber. 2. Mining. 3. a motion-picture scene or scenes: newsreel footage; jungle footage. /ˈfʊtɪdʒ/ noun 1. a length or distance measured in feet 2. 3. n. 1892, “piece work system to pay miners;” 1916, “the length of film used in a […]

  • Footages

    [foo t-ij] /ˈfʊt ɪdʒ/ noun 1. length or extent in feet: the footage of lumber. 2. Mining. 3. a motion-picture scene or scenes: newsreel footage; jungle footage. /ˈfʊtɪdʒ/ noun 1. a length or distance measured in feet 2. 3. n. 1892, “piece work system to pay miners;” 1916, “the length of film used in a […]

  • Foot-and-mouth disease

    [foo t-n-mouth] /ˈfʊt nˈmaʊθ/ noun, Veterinary Pathology. 1. an acute, contagious, febrile disease of cattle, hogs, sheep, and other hoofed animals, caused by any of various rhinoviruses and characterized by vesicular eruptions in the mouth and about the hoofs, teats, and udder. noun 1. an acute highly infectious viral disease of cattle, pigs, sheep, and […]

  • Footbag

    [foo t-bag] /ˈfʊtˌbæg/ noun 1. a small bag filled with beans or pellets of another material and used in a game that requires juggling it in the air with the feet. 2. a game in which this bag is used. Compare .

  • Football

    [foo t-bawl] /ˈfʊtˌbɔl/ noun 1. a game in which two opposing teams of 11 players each defend goals at opposite ends of a field having goal posts at each end, with points being scored chiefly by carrying the ball across the opponent’s goal line and by place-kicking or drop-kicking the ball over the crossbar between […]


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