fowl 
Then waiter leans over, 
To take off a cover 
From/owte, which all beg of, 
A wing or a leg of. Hood, A Public Dinner. 
My mother went about inside the house, or among the 
maids and /ow'fe. . . . But the fowls would take no notice 
of it, except to cluck for barley. 
Jt. D. Blaclrmore, lorna Doone, vi. 
Barn-yard, dunghill, etc.. fowl. See the qualifying 
words. Fowl-grass, the Poa serotina, a meadow-grass 
of Europe and North America. Also called fmel meadow- 
jrass. Frizzled fowl. See frizzle. Wild fowl, non- 
domesticated birds, especially game-birds, or such as are 
hunted for food. 
fowl 1 (foul), r. [< ME. fowlen,foulen, < AS. /- 
r/clian (= MHG. vogelen), fowl, < fugol, a fowl: 
see/owZ 1 , re.] I. intrans. To catch or kill wild 
fowl as game or for food, as by means of de- 
coys, nets, or snares, by pursuing them with fal- 
cons or hawks, or by shooting. 
In these every man may hunt, and/owZ, and fish. 
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), I. 904. 
You sit at their tables you sleep under their roof-tree 
you flsh, hunt, and/owi with them. 
R. Cfioate, Addresses, p. 9. 
II. trans. To hunt wild fowl over or in ; catch 
or kill wild fowl in. 
They hunt all grounds, and draw all seas, 
Foicl every brook and bush, to please 
Their wanton taste. B. Jonson, Catiline, i. 1. 
fow! 2 t, (i- An obsolete variant otfonl^. 
fowl-cholera (fourkol"e-ra), n. Same as chick- 
en-cholera. See cholera, 3. 
fowler (fou'ler), n. [Early mod. E. also fouler; 
< ME. fowler, joweler, foulere, < AS. fugelere, 
fuglere (= MLG. vogelere = OHG. fogalari, 
MHG. vogelare, vogelcr, G. vogler), a fowler, < 
fugelian, fowl : see fowl 1 , .] 1. One who pur- 
sues or snares wild fowls; one who takes or 
kills birds for food. 
The bird that knowes not the false fowlers call 
Into his hidden nett full easely doth fall. 
Spenser, F. Q., III. i. 54. 
The foolish bird hiding his head in a hole thinks him- 
self secure from the view of the fowler, because the fowler 
Is not ill his view. South, Works, VII. xiii. 
Vainly the fowler's eye 
Might mark thy distant flight to do thee wrong. 
Bryant, To a Waterfowl. 
2f. A small piece of ordnance carrying stone- 
shot. Many such cannon were distinguished by 
the names of birds, as falcon, saker, etc. Also 
called veuglaire. 
fowlerite (fou'ler-It), n. [After Dr. Samuel 
Fowler (1779-1844).] A variety of the manga- 
nese silicate rhodonite, from Franklin Fur- 
nace, New Jersey, containing 5 or 6 per cent, 
of zinc oxid. 
Fowler's solution. See solution. 
fowlery (fou'ler-i), n. [< fowl + -ery.~] 1. 
Fowling. 2. A place where fowls are kept or 
reared ; a poultry-yard ; a hennery. 
fowling (fou'ling), n. [< ME. fowlynge ; verbal 
n. offowli,y.~] [The practice or sport of shoot- 
ing or snaring birds. 
fpwling-net (fou'ling-net), n. A net for catch- 
ing feathered game. 
Entangled in a.fowlinfj-net, 
Which he for carrion Crowes had set 
That in our Peere-tree haunted. 
Spenser, Shep. Cal., March. 
fowling-piece (fou'ling-pes), n. 1. A light gun 
for shooting fowls or birds of any kind. 
We had sport that will be a memory through life, and 
until the age-weakened arms can no longer wield the/ow(- 
ing-piece. R. B. Roosewlt, Game Water Birds (1884), p. 129. 
2. A picture of game. 
The fowlinq-pif.ce, which is something like the fine pic- 
ture at the Prado. Atheiuzmn, Jan. 7, 1888, p. 21. 
fowth, n. and a. See fouth. 
fox 1 (f oks), n. [< ME. fox, Southern vox (cf . fix- 
en, vixen), < AS. fox = OS. vohs, vus (Schmeller) 
= D. vos = MLG. LG. vos = OHG. fuhs, MHG. 
vuhs, G.fuchs (ODan./os, a fox, < LG.; Icel. fox, 
only in the fig. sense of fraud) = Goth, 'fauhs 
(not recorded), with suffix -s (masc.). cf. Goth. 
fauho = OHG. foha, MHG. vohe, f .,' a she-fox 
(sometimes used as masc. ), = Icel. foa, f . , a fox 
(mod. Icel. toa, prob. an alteration of foa, due 
to a superstitious notion of not calling a fox 
by its right name); ult. origin unknown. Hence 
AS. *fyxcn, fixen, E. fixen, vixen = G. fuchsin, 
a she-fox.] 1. A carnivorous quadruped of 
the family Canidte and of the vulpine or alope- 
coid series of canines, especially of the restrict- 
ed genus Vulpes, as V. vulgaris of Europe. This 
animal is much smaller than the wolf, with a pointed 
muzzle, erect ears, elongated pupils of the eyes, long, 
straight, bushy tail tipped with white, and mostly reddish- 
yellow or fulvous pelage. It is proverbially cunning, bur- 
rows in the ground, preys on lambs, poultry, and other 
small animals, and is the principal object of the chase in 
2355 
some countries, as Great Britain. It is more fully known 
as the red fox, and runs into several varieties, as the cross- 
fox, silver or silver-gray fox, black fox, etc. The common 
Red Fox (1'ulfcs 
fox of North America is very similar to the red fox of Eu- 
rope, being probably not specifically distinct. There are 
many other true foxes, or species of Vulpes proper, in dif- 
ferent parts of the world, one of the most notable of which 
is the arctic fox or isatis, V. lagopus, which is of a dark 
color, and turns white in winter. (See cut of arctic fox, 
under arctic.) The corsak or adive ( V. coreac) of Tatary 
and India is one of a group of small foxes, represented in 
North America by the kit or swift fox, V. velox. (See cut 
under corsak.) The gray fox of the United States is suf- 
ficiently different to have been placed in another genus, 
Urocymi (as U. cinereo-aryentatus), to which the coast-fox 
of California ( 17. littoralis) also belongs. (The related ani- 
mals of South America are thooid, not alopecoid, and are 
known Rsfox-wolves,ot the genera Lycalopex and Pseuda- 
lopex.) The fennecs are small African foxes, closely allied 
to Vulpes proper, but commonly placed in a different ge- 
nus, Fennecus. (See cut under fennec.) Resembling these 
externally, but structurally different, is the African fox, 
ilegalotis or Otocyon lalandi, a generalized form represent- 
ing a different subfamily Xyaletina. The tail of the fox 
is called the brush. In the English Bible the word fox re- 
fers in some places to the jackal, in others to the fox. See 
reynard. 
And whan thei seen the Fox, thei schulle have gret mar- 
veylle of him, be cause that thei saughe never suche a 
Best. Mandeville, Travels, p. 267. 
The fox barks not when he would steal the lamb. 
Shak., 2 Hen. VI., ill. 1. 
But a month ago 
The whole hill-side was redder than a /at. 
Tennyson, Walking to the Mail. 
Hence 2. A sly, cunning fellow. 
Go ye, and tell that/oz [Herod Agrippa], Behold, I cast 
out devils. Luke xiii. 32. 
We call a crafty and cruel man &fox. 
Seattle, Moral Science, IV. i. f 1. 
3. The gemmous dragonet : chiefly applied to 
the females and young males. Also called fox- 
fish. [Local, Eng.] 4. Ncmt., a seizing made 
by twisting several rope-yarns together and 
rubbing them down Arctic fox, burnt fox, fresh- 
water fox, etc. See the adjectives. Fox and geese, a 
game played on a cross-shaped board or on a chess-board 
with pins or checkers, one of which is the fox, the rest 
the geese. The geese move forward one square at a time, 
and win if they can surround the fox or drive him into a 
corner. The fox can move forward or backward, captures 
the geese as men are taken in checkers, and wins if he 
captures all the geese. 
"Can you play at no kind of game, Master Harry?" 
"A little at/oa: and geese, madam." 
H. Brooke, Fool of Quality, I. 367. 
FOX in tile holet, a game played by boys, who hopped 
on one leg, and beat one another with gloves or pieces of 
leather, llalliwell. Spanish fox (naut.), a single yarn 
twisted contrary to its original lay. To bolt a fox, to 
Chop a fox, etc. See the verbs. 
fox 1 (foks), v. [< fox\ re.] I. intrans. 1. To 
hunt the fox. 
With us of the North, foxing Is by some followed during 
the late fall and winter, for the skins of the animal, which 
bring a fair price in market. Sportsman's Gazetteer, p. 17. 
2. To employ crafty means ; act with dissimu- 
lation. 
The Venetians will join with France. The Florentines 
and other petty princes are foxing already for fear. 
Baillie't Letters, II. 175. 
II. trans. To steal. Coll. Eton. (Halliwell.) 
fox' 2 (foks), v. [Prob., as foxed, foxfire, foxy, 
etc., in related senses indicate, (fox*, n., with 
ref . to the red orrusty color of the common fox.] 
1. intrans. 1. To become discolored: said of 
timber or of paper. See foxed, foxfire. 
Foxing in prints and books is caused sometimes by damp, 
but often by rust. N. and Q., 6th ser., XI. 173. 
2. To turn sour : said of beer when it sours in 
fermenting. 
II. trans. To make sour, as beer in ferment- 
ing. 
fox s t (foks), v. [Prob. in allusion to fox 1 or 
/ox 2 .] I. trans. To intoxicate; fuddle; stupefy. 
Ah, blind as one that had been /oz'd a seven-night! 
Middleton (and another), Mayor of Queenborough, v. 1. 
Item, such a day I was got/oz'd with foolish metheglin. 
Middleton, Anything for a Quiet Life, i. 1. 
foxglove 
The sole contention [is] who can drink most, and fox his 
fellow the soonest. Burton, Anat. of Mel. , p. 143. 
II. intrans. To become drunk. 
The humble tenant that does bring 
A chicke or egges for's ottering 
Is tane into the buttry, and does fox 
Equall with him that gave a stalled oxe. 
Verses prefixed to Lucasta, 1649. 
fox 4 (foks), v. t. [Origin obscure.] To repair, as 
a shoe, by renewing the front upper-leather ; 
also, to cover the upper of (a shoe) with a piece 
of ornamental leather. 
fox 5 t (foks), n. [Origin obscure; hardly an 
accom. of OF. fata:, faulx, a scythe, < L. falx, s. 
sickle : see falx, and cf . falchion , from the same 
source. According to some, so called from the 
figure of a wolf (taken for a fox) on the Passau 
blades: see wolf-blade.'] A sword. [Old slang.] 
Put up your sword ; 
I have seen it often ; 'tis a. fox. 
Beau, and Fl., Captain, ill. 5. 
O, what blade Is t,V 
A Toledo, or an English fox. 
Webster, White Devil, v. 2. 
A cowardly slave, that dares as well eat his /ox as draw 
it in earnest. Killigrew, Parson s Wedding. 
foxbane (foks'ban), re. A species of monk's- 
hood, Aconitum Vulparia. 
fox-bat (f oks'bat), re. A flying-fox ; a fruit-bat ; 
one of the large f rugivorous bats of the family 
Pteropodidce, such as the kalong or edible fruit- 
bat, Pterojius edulis, of the East Indies, measur- 
ing 4 or 5 feet in alar expanse : so called from 
the fox-like face. See cut under flying-fox. 
foxberry (foks'ber"i), n. ; pi. foxberries (-iz). 
A name of the plant Arctostaphylos Uva-ursi. 
See bearberry. 
fox-bolt (foks'bplt), n. A bolt which has one 
end split to receive a wedge. The wedge, when 
the bolt is driven in, secures it. See fox-wedge. 
fox-brush (foks'brush), n. The tail of a fox. 
fox-case (foks'kas), re. The skin of a fox. 
fox-chase (foks'chas), n. The pursuit of a fox 
with hounds. 
See the same man in vigour, in the gout, . . . 
Mad at & fox-chase, wise at a debate. 
Pope, Moral Essays, i. 74. 
fox-earth (foks'erth), re. A hole in the earth 
to which a fox resorts to hide itself. 
Shall the vile fox-earth awe the race that stormed the 
lion's den? Macaulay, Virginius. 
foxed (fokst), p. a. [</ox2 (in def. 3 < fox*) + 
-ed 2 .] 1. Discolored by incipient decay: said 
of timber. 2. Discolored, stained, or spotted: 
said of books or prints, with reference to the 
paper. The discoloration in books is usually caused by 
imperfect cleansing from the chemicals used in the manu- 
facture of the paper. 
3. Covered by a foxing, as a shoe. 
foxery (fok'ser-i), n. [< ME. foxerie (= G. 
fuchserei) ; <fox>- + -ery.~\ Behavior like that 
of a fox; fox-like character; wiliness; cun- 
ning. 
I have wel lever . . . 
Bifore the pnple [people] patre and preye, 
And wrie [cover] me in my foxerie 
Under a cope of papelardie [hypocrisy]. 
Rom. of the Rose, 1. 6795. 
fox-evil (foks'e"vl), n. Same as alopecia. 
fox-finch (foks'finch), n. Same us fox-sparrow. 
foxfire (foks'fir), . [< /ox 2 + fire.'] The 
phosphorescent light given forth by decayed 
or foxed timber. 
fox-fish (foks'fish), n. Same as/oxl, 3. 
foxglove (foks'gluv), n. [< ME. foxes glove, < 
AS. foxes glofa, i. e., fox's glove: foxes, gen. of 
fox, fox; glofa, glove. Cf. Norw. rev-bjelde, lit. 
fox-bell. See other names under Digitalis.'] 
1. A common ornamental flowering plant of 
gardens, Digitalis purptirea, a native of Europe, 
where it is found in hilly and especially rocky 
subalpine localities. It has large tubular-campanu- 
late flowers in long terminal racemes, and is one of the 
most stately and beautiful of European plants. The 
flowers are purple or sometimes white or rose-colored. 
The plant has valuable medicinal properties as a sedative 
and diuretic. See Digitalis. 
Pan through the pastures often times hath runne 
To plucke the speckled fox-gloves from their stem. 
W. Brmnte, Britannia's Pastorals, II. 4. 
Bring orchis, bring the foxglove spire. 
Tennyson, In Memoriam, Ixxxiii. 
2. The name in Jamaica of species of Pliyto- 
lacca. 3. One of several plants of other gen- 
era False foxglove, of the United States, Gerardta 
flava and G. quercifolia, species allied to Digitalis, with 
large yellow flowers. Foxglove-pug, F.iipithecia pul- 
chellata, a small geometrid moth of England. Mullen 
foxglove, the Seymeria macrophylla, a species similar to 
false foxglove, a plant with yellow flowers, densely woolly 
within. 
