foot

English Online Dictionary. What means foot‎? What does foot mean?

English

Alternative forms

• foote (obsolete)
• (plural): feets (dialectal); foots (nonstandard)

Etymology

From Middle English fot, fote, foot, from Old English fōt, from Proto-West Germanic *fōt, from Proto-Germanic *fōts, from Proto-Indo-European *pṓds. Doublet of pes, pie (“Spanish unit of length”), and pous.

Pronunciation

• enPR: fo͝ot, IPA^(key): /fʊt/, [fʊt]
  • (General American) IPA^(key): [fʊt̚]
  • (England, Wales) IPA^(key): [fʊt̚], [fʊtʰ], [fɵʔt]
  • (Scotland, Northern Ireland) IPA^(key): [fʉt]
  • (Canada) IPA^(key): [fʊt̚], [fɤ̈t̚], [fʷʊt̚], [fɯ̽t̚]
  • (Cape Flats; Indian South African) IPA^(key): [fɤt]
  • (Estuary) IPA^(key): [fʉ̞ʔt]
• Rhymes: -ʊt

Noun

foot (plural feet or (UK colloquial, unit of measure) foot)

1. 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.

2. (anatomy) Specifically, a human foot, which is found below the ankle and is used for standing and walking.
3. (often used attributively) Travel by walking.

4. The base or bottom of anything.

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

6. The end of a rectangular table opposite the head.

7. A short foot-like projection on the bottom of an object to support it.

9. A unit of measure equal to twelve inches or one third of a yard, equal to exactly 30.48 centimetres.
   1. (informal) Ellipsis of square foot. A unit of area.
   2. (informal) Ellipsis of cubic foot. A unit of volume.
10. (music) A unit of measure for organ pipes equal to the wavelength of two octaves above middle C, approximately 328 mm.
11. (collective, military) Foot soldiers; infantry.
12. (cigars) The end of a cigar which is lit, and usually cut before lighting.
13. (sewing) The part of a sewing machine which presses downward on the fabric, and may also serve to move it forward.
15. (printing) The bottommost part of a typed or printed page.
16. (printing) The base of a piece of type, forming the sides of the groove.
17. (prosody) The basic measure of rhythm in a poem.
18. (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.
19. (nautical) The bottom edge of a sail.

20. (billiards) The end of a billiard or pool table behind the foot point where the balls are racked.
21. (botany) In a bryophyte, that portion of a sporophyte which remains embedded within and attached to the parent gametophyte plant.
22. (malacology) The muscular part of a bivalve mollusc or a gastropod by which it moves or holds its position on a surface.
23. (molecular biology) The globular lower domain of a protein.
24. (geometry) The point of intersection of one line with another that is perpendicular to it.
25. Fundamental principle; basis; plan.
26. Recognized condition; rank; footing.
    • May 20, 1742, Horace Walpole, letter to Horace Mann

      As to his being on the foot of a servant.

Usage notes

• (unit of length):
  • The ordinary plural of the unit of measurement is feet, but in some contexts, foot itself may be used ("he is six foot two"). This is a reflex of the Anglo-Saxon (Old English) genitive plural. In the UK, however, foot is colloquially used as a plural in all contexts for the unit of measure, even where such usage would not be natural in other varieties of English.
  • It is sometimes abbreviated ', such as in tables, lists or drawings.

Synonyms

• pes

Coordinate terms

• (unit of length): inch, yard, mile
• (end of a table): head, sides
• (bottom of a page): head, body
• (bottom edge of a sail): head, leech, luff
• (molecular domain): head, cleft, neck
• (infantry): horse

Derived terms

Descendants

Translations

See also

• pedal, relating to the foot

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 of music; to dance; to trip; to skip.
   • 1836, Joanna Baillie, The Phantom, Act 1 (Dramas 2, p.217)

     There's time enough, I hope, To foot a measure with the bonnie bride,
4. To walk.
5. (now rare) To set foot on; to walk on.
6. (obsolete) To set on foot; to establish; to land.
7. To renew the foot of (a stocking, etc.).
   • 19th century, William Shakespeare, Henry the Fourth Part 1 (modern edited version)

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

Derived terms

• foot the bill

Translations

References

Anagrams

• foto, ooft, toof

French

Etymology

Clipping of football.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fut/

Noun

foot m (uncountable)

1. (colloquial) association football; football, soccer

2. (colloquial, uncommon) footy (a nickname for several different football codes)

Derived terms

• ballon de foot
• footeuse
• footeux

Middle English

Etymology 1

Noun

foot

1. Alternative form of fot

Etymology 2

Verb

foot

1. Alternative form of foten