foul
To jostle or bore unfairly in a race. See BORE. To touch any foreign substance during a race—particularly a boat-race—is to FOUL it.
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foul riding
Riding which after a horse-race is made the subject of complaint, such as refusing to let a competitor pass, boring him against the rails, &c. Some jockeys are great adepts at this work, and are invaluable to a confederacy as a means, not so much of attaining victory themselves, as of preventing its attainment in others. Of course unless proof of jostling can be given, or evidence of malicious intent shown, jockeyship of this kind is not considered foul riding.
foul up
to make a mistake or cause something to go wrong
Foul-weather Jack
Admiral John Byron (1723- 86), said to have been as notorious for foul weather as Queen Victoria was for fine.
foundling
A child dropped in the streets, and found, and educated at the parish expence.
fountain of youth
A mythical source of eternal youth and vitality
Fountain of Youth
In popular folk-tales, a fountain supposed to possess the power 9f restoring youth. Expeditions were fitted out in search of it, and at one time it was supposed to be in one of the Bahama Islands.
fountain pen
This apparently modern in- vention is really of considerable antiquity. In the anonymous "Diary of a Journey to Paris m 1657-58" under date July llth, 1657 there is reference to a man who "makes pens of silver in which he puts ink, which does not get dry, and without having to take any, one can write a half-quire of paper at a sitting." In 1721 there is an advertisement in a Welsh almanac, "Inkhorns.
four by two
A Jew.
Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
Symbolic harbingers of doom or catastrophe
four kings
HISTORY OF THE, an old name for a pack of playing cards. See Sir Thomas Urquhart’s Translation of Rabelais. In Argot, LIVRE DES QUATRE ROIS.
four one one
information
four score and seven years ago
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
four sheets to the wind
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
four-and-nine
Or FOUR-AND-NINEPENNY GOSS, a cheap hat, so called from 4s. 9d., the price at which a once noted advertising hat-maker sold his hats—
four-bagger
A home run.
four-eyes
A man or woman who habitually wears spectacles.
four-leaf clover
Something extremely rare or lucky
four-minute warning
A warning of an imminent nuclear attack
Fourteen Hundred
The cry raised on the Stock Exchange to give notice that a stranger has entered the "House." The term is said to have been in use in Defoe's time, and to have originated at a time when for a considerable period the number of members had remained stationary at 1399.
Fourteen Points
Conditions laid down by President Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924) as those on which the Allies were prepared to make peace with Germany. He outlined them in a speech to Congress on January 1 1th, 1918, and at the end of the war they were accepted as the basis for the peace. They included the evacuation by Germany of all allied territory, the restoration of Poland, freedom of the seas, reduction of armaments, and open diplomacy.
fourth
Or FOURTH COURT, the court appropriated to the waterclosets at Cambridge; from its really being No. 4 at Trinity College. A man leaving his room to go to the FOURTH COURT, writes on his door, in algebraic notation, GONE^4, which expresses the Cambridge slang phrase, "gone to the FOURTH."
fourth dimension
The three dimensions of space universally recognized are length, breadth, and height; three in number because we can draw three lines, but no more, all at right angles to one another. A piece of line has only one dimension — length ; a region of a surface has two — length and breadth; a solid body in space has three.
fourth estate
The media, especially the press, in its role of holding power to account.
Fourth Estate of the Realm
The daily Press. The most powerful of all, the others (see ESTATES) being the Lords Spiritual, the Lords Temporal, and the Commons. Burke, referring to the Reporters' Gallery, is credited with having said, "Yonder sits the Fourth Estate, . more important than them all," but it does not appear in his published works.
fourth gear
at full speed or maximum effort
fourth wall
The boundary between a story and its audience
fousil
The name of a public house, where the Eccentrics assemble in May's Buildings, St. Martin's Lane.
fox
To cheat or rob.—Eton College. In London to watch closely and narrowly.
fox in the henhouse
Someone who is given responsibility but has a conflict of interest
fox sleep
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
fox's socks
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
foxed
A term used by print and book collectors to denote the brown spotted appearance produced by damp on paper.
foxeh
A fox.
foxing
When one actor criticises another’s performance.—Theatrical. Also in street slang FOXING means watching slyly.
foxing a boot
Mending the foot by capping it.
foxxo
A fox.
foxy
Rank, tainted, from the odour of the animal.—Lincolnshire.
fox’s sleep
Or FOXING, a purposely assumed indifference to what is going on. A fox, as well as a weasel, is said to sleep with one eye open.
foyst
A pickpocket, cheat, or rogue. See WOTTON'S GANG.
foysted in
Words or passages surreptitiously interpolated or inserted into a book or writing.
Fra Diavolo
Auber's opera of this name (1830) is founded on the ex- ploits of Michele Pozza (1760-1806), a cele- brated brigand and renegade monk, who evaded pursuit for many years amidst the mountains of Calabria.
frack
Fuck.
fracking
Fucking.
Fragments of Euripides
Cp. also Stultum facit fortuna quern vult perdere (Publius Syrus, No. 612). He whom Fortune would ruin she robs of his wits.
frail
A girl.
frak
Fuck.
france was azure
Emblem of fidelity and truth. Represented in heraldic devices by horizontal lines. Ultimately Arabic or Per- sian, and connected with "lapis lazuli" for which the word "azure" used to stand.
Francois Gravelet
He began performing at the age of five and acquired considerable repute by his aerial tricks. His great feat, however, was performed in 1859 when he crossed the Niagara Falls on a tight-rope. This he did several times, embellishing the performance by wheeling a barrow, twirling an umbrella, etc. He made a fortune by this show, and soon after his return settled in England, where he gave performances until too old to do so.
Francois I
Le chevalier sans peur et sans teproche.
franger
A condom.
frangipani pudding
Pudding made of broken bread (L&t.f ranger e, to break ; panis, bread).
Frankelin's Tale
See DORIGEN. Frankenstein (frangken stln). The young student in Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's ro- mance of that name (1818). He made a soulless monster out of corpses from churchyards and dissecting-rooms, and endued it with life by galvanism. The tale shows how the creature longed for sympathy, but was shunned by everyone and became the instrument of dread- ful retribution on the student who usurped the prerogative of the Creator.
frapping
A beating. French, FRAPPER.
fraters
Vagabonds who beg with sham patents, or briefs, for hospitals, fires, inundations, &c.
freak flag
To openly express or celebrate one's unusual or unconventional aspects
freakazoid
Freaky.
freakin'
extremely
freaking
Fucking.
freckle
The anus.