foot

Etymology

From Middle English fot, fote, foot, from Old English fōt (“foot”), from Proto-Germanic *fōts (“foot”), from Proto-Indo-European *pṓds. Germanic cognates include Scots fit, West Frisian foet, Dutch voet, German Fuß,, Danish fod and Norwegian fot, and Indo-European cognates include Hittite 𒉺𒋫 (pata), Latin pēs, Tocharian A pe, Tocharian B paiyye, Lithuanian padas (“sole (foot)”), Lithuanian pėda (“foot”), Russian под (pod, “ground”), Ancient Greek πούς, ποδός (poús, podós), Albanian shputë (“palm, foot sole”), Old Armenian ոտն (otn), and Sanskrit पद् (pád).

Pronunciation

• enPR: fo͝ot, IPA^(key): /fʊt/, [fʊt]
  • (General American) IPA^(key): [fʊt̚]

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

  • (UK) IPA^(key): [fʊt̚], [fʊtʰ], [fɵʔt]

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ʊt

Noun

foot (countable and uncountable, plural feet)

1. (countable) A biological structure found in many animals that is used for locomotion and that is frequently a separate organ at the terminal part of the leg. ^transl.

   A spider has eight feet.

2. (countable, anatomy) Specifically, a human foot, which is found below the ankle and is used for standing and walking. ^transl.

   Southern Italy is shaped like a foot.

3. (uncountable, often used attributively) Travel by walking.

   We went there by foot because we could not afford a taxi.

   There is a lot of foot traffic on this street.

4. (countable) The base or bottom of anything. ^transl.

   I'll meet you at the foot of the stairs.

5. (countable) The part of a flat surface on which the feet customarily rest.

   We came and stood at the foot of the bed.

6. (countable) The end of a rectangular table opposite the head. ^coord.

   The host should sit at the foot of the table.

7. (countable) A short foot-like projection on the bottom of an object to support it. ^transl.

   The feet of the stove hold it a safe distance above the floor.

8. (countable) A unit of measure equal to twelve inches or one third of a yard, equal to exactly 30.48 centimetres. ^{usage coord.}
   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 20, in The China Governess‎:

     ‘No. I only opened the door a foot and put my head in. The street lamps shine into that room. I could see him. He was all right. Sleeping like a great grampus. Poor, poor chap.’

   The flag pole at the local high school is about 20 feet high.

9. (countable, music) A unit of measure for organ pipes equal to the wavelength of two octaves above middle C, approximately 328 mm.
10. (military, collective) Foot soldiers; infantry. ^coord.

    King John went to battle with ten thousand foot and one thousand horse.

    • Clarendon

      His forces, after all the high discourses, amounted really but to eighteen hundred foot.

11. (countable, cigars) The end of a cigar which is lit, and usually cut before lighting.
12. (countable, sewing) The part of a sewing machine which presses downward on the fabric, and may also serve to move it forward.
13. (countable, printing) The bottommost part of a typed or printed page. ^coord.
14. (printing) The base of a piece of type, forming the sides of the groove.
15. (countable, prosody) The basic measure of rhythm in a poem. ^transl.
16. (countable, phonology) The parsing of syllables into prosodic constituents, which are used to determine the placement of stress in languages along with the notions of constituent heads.
17. (countable, nautical) The bottom edge of a sail. ^{coord. transl.}

    To make the mainsail fuller in shape, the outhaul is eased to reduce the tension on the foot of the sail.

18. (countable, billiards) The end of a billiard or pool table behind the foot point where the balls are racked.
19. (countable, botany) In a bryophyte, that portion of a sporophyte which remains embedded within and attached to the parent gametophyte plant.
    • 1992, Rudolf M. Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, page 4

      (b) sporophyte with foot reduced, the entire sporophyte enveloped by the calyptra, which is ± stipitate at the base.

20. (countable, malacology) The muscular part of a bivalve mollusc or a gastropod by which it moves or holds its position on a surface.
21. (countable, molecular biology) The globular lower domain of a protein. ^coord.
22. (countable, geometry) The point of intersection of one line with another that is perpendicular to it.
23. (uncountable) Fundamental principle; basis; plan.
    • Berkeley

      Answer directly upon the foot of dry reason.

24. (uncountable) Recognized condition; rank; footing.
    • Walpole

      As to his being on the foot of a servant.

Verb

foot (third-person singular simple present foots, present participle footing, simple past and past participle footed)

1. (transitive) To use the foot to kick (usually a ball).
2. (transitive) To pay (a bill).
3. To tread to measure or music; to dance; to trip; to skip.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Dryden to this entry?)

4. To walk.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)

5. To tread.

   to foot the green

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Tickell to this entry?)

6. (obsolete) To set on foot; to establish; to land.
   • Shakespeare

     What confederacy have you with the traitors / Late footed in the kingdom?

7. To renew the foot of (a stocking, etc.).

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)

8. To sum up, as the numbers in a column; sometimes with up.

   to foot (or foot up) an account

References

Anagrams

• foto, toof

Etymology

Clipping of football.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fut/

• audio

  (file)

Noun

foot m (uncountable)

1. (colloquial) association football; football, soccer
   • Zidane est un des meilleurs joueurs de foot du monde.

     Zidane is one of the best soccer players in the world.

   • Toutes les semaines, il regarde du foot à la télé.

     Every week, he watches soccer on TV.

Etymology 1

From Old English fōt.

Etymology 2

From fot (noun).