fool-killer 
anybody notoriously guilty of great folly. [Hu- 
morous, U. 8.] 
Now and then Niagara has ably assisted the fool-killer 
by knocking out gentlemen who bid for fame by going 
over the Falls in a barrel. 
Xew I'ork Tribune, Dec. 23, 1888. 
f OOl-larget, [< ME. folelarge, < OF. fol large, 
foolishly liberal: see fool 1 and large.'] Fool- 
ishly liberal : improvident. Chaucer. 
fopl-largesset (foriar"jes), . Foolish expen- 
diture; waste. 
Esclme fool-largesse, the which men clepen waste. 
Chaucer, Parson's Tale. 
foolocracy (fol-ok'ra-si), n. ; pi. foolocracies 
(-siz). [</ooA + -o-cracy, government, as de- 
mo-cracy, aristo-cracy, etc.] The rule of fools; 
government by fools or incompetent persons. 
[Humorous.] 
What oceans of absurdity and nonsense will the new 
liberties of Scotland disclose ! Yet this is better than the 
old infamous jobbing and the foolocracy under which it 
has so long laboured. Sydney Smith, To John Murray. 
fool-plought (fol'plou), n. A rustic sport or 
pageant iu which a number of sword-dancers 
dragged a plow, attended with music and per- 
sons grotesquely attired. 
The fool-plough was, perhaps, the yule-plough ; it is also 
called the white-plough, because the gallant young men 
that compose the pageant appear to be dressed in their 
shirts, without coats or waistcoats; upon which great num- 
bers of ribbands folded into roses are loosely stitched. 
Strutt, Sports and Pastimes, p. 450. 
foolscap (folz'kap), n. and a. I. n. 1. Seo/ooPs 
cap, under fool 1 , 2. A writing-paper, usual- 
ly folded, varying in size from 12 X 15 to 12J 
X 16 inches: so called from its former water- 
mark, the outline of a fool's head and cap, for 
which other devices are now substituted. 
[The Rump Parliament ordered that the royal arms in 
the watermark of the paper should be removed and a fool's 
cap and bells substituted. See 'N. & Q.,' 2d ser., I. 251, 
and Archreologia, XII. 117. ft. and Q., 7th ser., V. 420.) 
The precious lines were written out on foolscap all too 
short for the purpose. IT. M. Baker, New Timothy, p. 57. 
3. A bivalve mollusk, Isocardia cor, better 
known as heart-shell. 
II. a. Of the size known as foolscap. 
fool's-coat (faiz'kot), . The European gold- 
finch, Carduelis elegans. 
fool's-parsley (folz'parsli), n. See parsley. 
foolston.es (fol'stonz), n. An old name for the 
British orchids Orchis Morio and 0. mascula. 
Also called dogstones. 
fool-trap (fol' trap), n. A trap or snare to catch 
fools. 
Bets, at first, were fooltraps, where the wise. 
Like spiders, lay in ambush for the flies. JDryden. 
foorl (for). [< ME. for, < AS. for, pi. foron 
pret. of faran, fare : see fare 1 , t>.] A dialectal 
(Scotch) preterit of fare 1 . 
As o'er the moor they lightly foor. 
Burns, There was a Lass, they ca'd her Meg. 
foor 2 (for), n. [A var. of ford, or perhaps ult. 
< AS. f5r, a journey, < faran, go : see fare 1 , 
v., foor 1 , ford.'] A ford over a river. [Prov. 
Eng.] 
foor 3 (for), n. A dialectal variant of furrow. 
[North. Eng.] 
foor 4 (for), . [E. dial.] A strong scent or 
odor. [Prov. Eng.] 
Foorsday (forz'da), n. [So. dial., = E. Thurs- 
day; cf.filP = thill, etc.] Thursday. [Scotch.] 
foot (fut), . ; pi. feet (fet). [< MS. foot, fot, pi. 
feet, fet, < AS. fot, pi. fet = OS. OFries. fot = 
D. voct = MLG. vot, LG. foot, fot, fot = OHG. 
fuoz, MHO. vuoz, Or. fuss = Icel. fotr = Dan. 
fod = Sw. fot = Grotb.fotus, foot; Teut. stem 
fot-, in ablaut relation with a stem fat-, fet-, 
appearing in A.S.fa;t (in comp.), a step, going, 
Icel. fet ( Dan. fjed = Sw. fjat), a pace, step, 
foot (of length), fit, the webbed foot of a water- 
bird, Sc. fit, foot (see fit*) ; AS. feter, E. fetter, 
etc.; ME./etfafc, E. fetlock, etc.; AS.fetian, E. 
fet, bring, Icel. feta, find one's way, etc. (see 
fet 1 ) ; = L. pes (pfd-) P It. piede = Sp. pie = 
Pg. Pr. pe = F. pied), foot, stem ped- appear- 
ing also in peda, a footstep, pedica, a fetter, 
etc., oppidum, town, etc., related to stem pod- 
in tripudium, a dance, etc., = Gr. m>i>f (TTO<!-), 
.ffiolie iruf, foot, related to stem Trerf- in wiSr/, a 
fetter, TrsSov, the ground, irtSifav, a sandal, itk^a, 
instep, bottom, end, dial, foot, 7ref<if, on foot, 
etc. ; = Lith. patlas = Lett, pehda = Zend padha 
(Pers. pal, pa. Hind, pa), foot, = Skt. pad, 
foot, pada, step, foot, < Skt. / pad, go, step, 
tread. Hence ult., from the AS., fetter, fet- 
lock, fet 1 , fet3, fit*, etc. ; from the L., pedal, 
pedestal, pedestrian, pedicel, pediment, etc,, 6i- 
2309 
ped, quadruped, centiped, etc., expede, impede, 
expedite, etc., peon, pawifl, etc.; from the Gr., 
podagra, podocarp, etc., podium, peii, etc., dip- 
ody, tripod, etc., octopus, polypus, polyp, etc.] 
1. In man and other vertebrate animals, the 
terminal part of the leg, upon which the body 
rests in standing; one of the pedal extremi- 
ties. 
Thou makes the for to kysse His mouthe by deuocyone 
and gastely prayere, hot thou tredis apoue his fete and 
defoules thame. 
llampole, Prose Treatises (E. E. T. 8.), p. 28. 
If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am 
not of the body ; is it therefore not of the body? 
1 Cor. xii. 15. 
Many a light/oot shone like a Jewel set 
In the dark crag. Tennyson, Princess, ill. 
In man the feet are the terminal segments of the posterior 
limbs, corresponding to the hands or the anterior extrem- 
ities, and extending from the ankle-joint or tiblotarsal 
articulation to the end of the toes. The foot is divided 
into three parts, the tarsus 
or ankle, the metatarsus or 
instep, and the phalanges, 
digits, or toes. It contains 
26 bones : namely, 7 tarsals, 
the astragalus, calcaneum, 
scaphoid, cuboid, and 3 cune- 
iform bones ; 5 metatarsals ; 
and 14 phalanges, 3 to each 
of the digits except the great 
toe, which has 2. The axis 
of the foot is at right angles 
with that of the leg, and the 
whole sole rests upon the 
ground. The principal mus- 
cles acting upon the foot are 
the anterior and posterior 
tibial, the three peroneal, 
the gastrocnemii and soleus, 
and the flexors and extensors 
of the toes. In many mam- 
mals the structure of the 
foot is much the same as in 
man, especially in those 
which are plantigrade ; but 
the term is extended usual- 
ly to the corresponding seg- 
ment of the fore limb. In 
digitigrade mammals which 
walk upon the toes, as cats 
and dogs, or upon the ends 
of the toes, asin hoofedquad- 
rupeds, the foot, properly 
speaking, extends up the 
limb : thus, in the horse, for 
example, the feet reach up 
"lind limb 
Bones of Human Foot, or Pes, 
the third principal segment of the 
the third principal segment of the 
to the hock of the hind limb hind limb, consisting of tarsus, 
and the so-called knee of metatarsus, and phalanges. 
the fore limb (see cut under astragalus ; , calcaneum j 
perissodactvl) ; but in popu- bS" J^, , SgJ; 
lar language foot is restrict- mesocuneiform. and eciocunei- 
ed to the phalangeal part Of 'orm, or inner, middle, and outer 
the foot, which rests on the cuneiform bones The foregoing 
ground in walking. In birds STjfS Zf&lftffSSi 
the foot is properly the metatarsil, constitute the meta- 
whole of the hind limb up tarsus. The remaining fourteen 
tothetibiotarsaljoint.com- SSi.*SSJ! phalanges, three 
monly but wrongly called SZ%$SX3ffi&&SS 
the knee, and includes the lux or great toe. 
tarsometatarsns and toes; 
but it is popularly restricted to the toes alone. In rep- 
tiles and batrachians which have limbs, the foot is the 
terminal segment of either fore or hind limb, as in other 
vertebrates. The hind foot is technically called the pes. 
2. In invertebrate animals, some part serving 
the purpose of a foot, (a) In mollusks, any surface or 
part of the body upon which the animal rests or moves. 
It is often extensile or protrusible, as in gastropods, and 
is technically called the podium. See cuts under Helicidce 
and Lamellibranchiata. (b) In insects, specifically, the tar- 
sus. (c) In arthropods, the leg. The modifications of the 
limbs have different names, as swimming-feet or pliopods, 
ambulatory feet, etc. (d) In worms, one of the bristly ap- 
pendages called parapodia. See cut under prtxstomium. 
() In echinoderms, a tubular prolongation of the body 
through an ambulacrum. See tube-foot. (/) In protozo- 
ans, a temporary prolongation of the body, called a false 
foot. See pseudopodium. 
3. Milit., soldiers who march and fight on foot; 
infantry as distinguished from cavalry: used 
collect! velv for foot-soldiers : as, a regiment of 
foot; the Tenth (regiment ot)foot. 
Part wield their arms, part curb the foaming steed, 
Single or in array of battle ranged 
Both horse and foot, nor idly mustering stood. 
Milton, P. L., xi. 645. 
Here I leave my second leg, 
And the Forty-second foot. 
Hood, Faithless Nelly Gray. 
4. Something which bears a resemblance to an 
animal's foot in shape, or in its office as a sup- 
port or base, or in its position as a terminus or 
lowest part. 
The groove . . . divides the bottom of the type into 
two parts called the/te(. Encyc. Brit., XXIII. 698. 
Specifically (a) The part of a stocking or boot which 
receives the foot. (6) A mechanical contrivance acting 
like the foot of a man in the propulsion of automatic ma- 
chines. (c) The lower part of the leg of a chair or any 
other support or shaft. 
5. The lowest part or foundation; the part op- 
posite to the head or top; the bottom; also, the 
foot 
last of a row or series : as, the foot of a moun- 
tain, of a column, or of a class. 
Departyng owt of thys forseyd churche of ower lady, 
we Came to tliefote of the Mounte of Olyvete. 
Torkingtun, Diarie of Eng. Travell, p. 28. 
In a Parlour at his beds feete were 3000 Talents of golde. 
Purchai, Pilgrimage, p. 363. 
When she cam to the gallows foot, 
The saut tear blinded her ee. 
Mary Hamilton (Child's Ballads, III. 330). 
The generous man in the ordinary acceptation, without 
respect of the demands of his own family, will soon find 
upon the foot of his account that he has sacrificed to fools, 
knaves, flatterers, or the deservedly unhappy, all the op- 
portunities of affording any future assistance where it 
ought to be. Steele, Spectator, No. 346. 
6. A blow with the foot. [Bare.] 
Harry, giving him a slight foot, laid him on the broad 
of his back. H . Brooke, Fool of Quality, II. 
7t. The concluding refrain or burden of a song. 
Fate, or repete of a dittye or verse, whiche is often re- 
peted. Huloel, 1552. 
Ele, leuf, ion, iou ; whereof the first is the cry and voyce 
they commonly use to one another to make haste, or else 
it is the foot of some song of triumph. 
North, tr. of Plutarch, p. 11. 
8f. Footing; basis; principle: used only in the 
singular. 
This distinction set the controversy upon a new foot, 
and seemed to be very well approved by most that heard 
it. Addison, Coffee-House Debates. 
I ... shall take it ill if you don't keep up the corre- 
spondence on the same /oof. Walpole, Letters, II. 126. 
I continued upon the same foot of acquaintance with 
the two lords last mentioned, until the time of prince 
George's death. Swift, Change in Queen's Ministry. 
We ought not to treat such miscreants as these upon 
the same/uo( of fair disputants. Steele, Tatler, No. 135. 
9f. Regular or normal value or price ; par. 
Were it not for this easy borrowing upon interest, men's 
necessities would draw upon them a most sudden undoing, 
in thaUhey would be forced to sell their means (be it lands 
or goods) far under foot. Bacon, Usury (ed. 1887). 
10. A unit of length, originally the length of a 
man's foot. Abbreviated ft. The English foot (in 
use in the United States) contains 12 inches, and is equal 
to 30.48 centimeters. It seems to have slightly lengthened 
since the time of Henry VII. The feet in use in differ- 
ent European countries before the introduction of the 
metric system varied from 9 to 21 English inches. The 
ancient Roman foot is known from a number of extant 
standards to have been equal to 11.65 English inches. 
Other ancient feet are of uncertain length, even when their 
existence is not in doubt ; especially, there is at present 
much dispute concerning the Attic foot. (See geometrical 
foot, below.) The following table gives the prevalent 
opinions concerning the lengths of the ancient feet and 
well-determined values of the more important modern 
units of this name, all expressed in English inches : 
Modernfett. Inchtt. 
Spain (foot of Burgos) 10.968 
Dresden commercial 
foot 11.128 
Wurtemberg 11.276 
Poland 11.325 
Cassel Werkfuss .... 11.828 
Liibeck 11.329 
Bremen 11.387 
Bavaria 11.458 
Sweden 11.689 
Nuremberg 11.926 
Prussia 12.357 
Vienna 12.443 
Venice 13.672 
Cassel Ruthcnfusa . . 15.700 
Piedmont (piede l.i- 
prando) 20.223 
Ancient feet. Inches. 
Great Ptolemaic .... 13.98 
Lesser Ptolemaic . . . 12.14 
Ionic 13.78 
Philetierian 12.99 
Phrygian 10.93 
jEgiuetan 13.11 
Olympic 12.62 
Attic 11.64 
Italic 10.83 
Roman 11.65 
Ancient German 13.11 
Medieval/eel. 
Ancient Welsh 9 
Scotch 12.064 
Modern feet. 
(Measures of the Russian com- 
mission. ) 
Sicily 10.183 
(From other authorities.) 
French pied duroi.. 12.789 
A foot of grindstone was formerly 8 inches. 
The great culverin [of 1551 1 was nearly 10 feet long, fand] 
weighed 4,000 Ibs. W. W. Greener, The Gun, p 21. 
[In this sense foot was formerly, and still is dialectally, 
often used for the plural as well as in idiomatic combina- 
tions like a three foot reflector, an S-foot stop. 
The boke seith, he was xiiij foote of lengthe, and half a 
palme be-twene his browes. Merlin (E. E. T. 8.), 11. 3S9.] 
1 1 . In pros. , a group of syllables, of which one is 
distinguished above the others, which are rela- 
tively less marked in enunciation ; a section of 
a rhythmical series consisting of a thesis and 
an arsis. The Greeks first gave the name/oo' (iroiis)to 
the group of tones imrked by and coincident with one rise 
and one fall of the human foot in dancing or in beating 
time. The time or syllable marked alike by the Ictus or 
stress of voice, and by the beat of foot or hand in mark, 
ing time, they accordingly called the thesis (0n?) or ' set- 
ting down ' (of the foot), and the remaining interval be- 
fore or after this the a rsis (apais) or 'raising '(of the foot). 
Many Latin and modern writers have introduced great 
confusion into metrical nomenclature by directly inter- 
changing the meaning of the words arein and thesis. (Sec 
arsis.) An uninterrupted succession of feet constitutes 
a colon or series, and the name line or verse Is given to 
a colon, cola, or period, if written in one line. In accen- 
tual poetry, as in English, and other modern languages in 
which the syllabic accent is chiefly a stress of the voice, 
the rhythmical ictus regularly coincides with the syllable 
accent, and the relative length of time taken ill pro- 
