Foul1, a.
[compar. FOULER; superl. FOULEST.] [A-S. fûl, sordid, Goth. fuls, rotten, fetid, Icel. full, fetid, Sw. ful, Dan. fuul, fül, O. H. Ger. fûl, N. H. Ger. faul, M. H. Ger. vûl, D. vuil, allied to Skr. pûj, Lat. putere, Lith. puti, to be putrid.]
Sense 1. Covered with or containing extraneous matter which is injurious, noxious, or offensive; filthy; dirty; not clean; polluted; nasty; defiled; as, a foul cloth; foul hands; a foul chimney.
My face is foul with weeping. Job xvi. 16.
Sense 2. Impure; scurrilous; obscene or profane; abusive; as, foul words; foul language.
Sense 3. Cloudy or rainy; stormy; not clear or fair; — said of the weather, sky, &c.
So foul a sky clears not without a storm. Shak.
Sense 4. Loathsome; hateful; detestable; abominable; shameful; odious. “The foul witch Sycorax.” Shak.
Babylon . . . the hold of every foul spirit. Rev. xviii. 2.
Who first seduced them to that foul revolt? Milton.
Sense 5. Not favorable; unpropitious; not fair or advantageous; as, a foul wind; a foul road or bay.
Sense 6. Not conformed to the established rules and customs of a game, a conflict, test, or the like; unfair; dishonest; dishonorable; cheating; as, foul play.
Sense 7. Having freedom of motion interfered with by collision or entanglement with any thing; entangled; as, a rope is foul.
A foul copy, a first draught, with erasures and corrections. “Some writers boast of negligence, and others would be ashamed to show their foul copies.” Cowper. — To fall foul, to fall out; to quarrel. “If they be any ways offended, they fall foul.” Burton. — To run or fall foul of, to come into collision with; to run against; to stumble over or upon.
Synonyms— Nasty; filthy; dirty. See NASTY.