foot

foot (f

n. pl. feet (f

1. The lower extremity of the vertebrate leg that is in direct contact with the ground in standing or walking.

2. A structure used for locomotion or attachment in an invertebrate animal, such as the muscular organ extending from the ventral side of a mollusk.

3. Something suggestive of a foot in position or function, especially:

a. The lowest part; the bottom: the foot of a mountain; the foot of a page.

b. The end opposite the head, top, or front: the foot of a bed; the foot of a parade.

c. The termination of the leg of a piece of furniture, especially when shaped or modeled.

d. The part of a sewing machine that holds down and guides the cloth.

e. Nautical The lower edge of a sail.

f. Printing The part of a type body that forms the sides of the groove at the base.

g. Botany The base of the sporophyte in mosses and liverworts.

4. The inferior part or rank: at the foot of the class.

5. The part of a stocking or high-topped boot that encloses the foot.

a. A manner of moving; a step: walks with a light foot.

b. Speed or momentum, as in a race: "the only other Democrats who've demonstrated any foot till now" Michael Kramer.

7. (used with a pl. verb) Foot soldiers; infantry.

8. A unit of poetic meter consisting of stressed and unstressed syllables in any of various set combinations. For example, an iambic foot has an unstressed followed by a stressed syllable.

9. Abbr. ft. or ft A unit of length in the U.S. Customary and British Imperial systems equal to 12 inches (0.3048 meter). See Table at measurement.

10. foots Sediment that forms during the refining of oil and other liquids; dregs.

v. foot·ed, foot·ing, foots

v.intr.

1. To go on foot; walk. Often used with it: When their car broke down, they had to foot it the rest of the way.

2. To dance. Often used with it: "We foot it all the night/weaving olden dances" William Butler Yeats.

3. Nautical To make headway; sail.

v.tr.

1. To go by foot over, on, or through; tread.

2. To execute the steps of (a dance).

3. To add up (a column of numbers) and write the sum at the bottom; total: footed up the bill.

4. To pay; defray: footed the expense of their children's education.

5. To provide (a stocking, for example) with a foot.

Idioms:

at (someone's) feet

Enchanted or fascinated by another.

best foot forward

A favorable initial impression: He always has his best foot forward when speaking to his constituents. Put your best foot forward during an employment interview.

feet of clay

An underlying weakness or fault: "They discovered to their vast discomfiture that their idol had feet of clay, after placing him upon a pedestal" James Joyce.

foot in the door Slang

1. An initial point of or opportunity for entry.

2. A first step in working toward a goal.

get (one's) feet wet

To start a new activity or job.

have one foot in the grave Informal

To be on the verge of death, as from illness or severe trauma.

have (one's) feet on the ground

To be sensible and practical about one's situation.

on (one's) feet

1. Standing up: The crowd was on its feet for the last ten seconds.

2. Fully recovered, as after an illness or convalescence: The patient is on her feet again.

3. In a sound or stable operating condition: put the business back on its feet after years of mismanagement.

4. In an impromptu situation; extemporaneously: "Politicians provide easy targets for grammatical nitpickers because they have to think on their feet" Springfield MA Morning Union.

on the right foot

In an auspicious manner: The project started off on the right foot but soon ran into difficulties.

on the wrong foot

In an inauspicious manner: The project started off on the wrong foot.

[Middle English fot, from Old English ft; see ped- in Indo-European roots.]

Usage Note: In Standard English, foot and feet have their own rules when they are used in combination with numbers to form expressions for units of measure: a four-foot plank, but not a four feet plank; also correct is a plank four feet long (or, less frequently, four foot long). When foot is combined with numbers greater than one to refer to simple distance, however, only the plural feet is used: a ledge 20 feet (not foot) away. At that speed, a car moves 88 feet (not foot) in a second.

Our Living Language Some people in New England and the South use constructions such as three foot and five mile in place of Standard English three feet and five miles in certain contexts. Some speakers extend this practice to measures of time, as in He was gone three year, though this is not as common. Interestingly, such constructions are used only if a specific numeral (other than one) precedes the noun. Thus, She gave me four gallon of cider can be heard in vernacular speech; however, no one would say She gave me gallon of cider for She gave me gallons of cider. This is because the numeral makes apparent the plural meaning that would not be specified if both the numeral and the plural form were omitted. See Notes at comparative, plural, redundancy.

foot

foot

Noun

pl feet

1. the part of the leg below the ankle joint that is in contact with the ground during standing and walking

2. the part of a garment covering a foot

3. a unit of length equal to 12 inches (0.3048 metre)

4. the bottom, base, or lower end of something: at the foot of the hill, the foot of the page

5. Old-fashioned infantry

6. Prosody a group of two or more syllables in which one syllable has the major stress, forming the basic unit of poetic rhythm

7. one foot in the grave Informal near to death

8. on foot walking

9. put one's best foot forward to try to do one's best

10. put one's foot down Informal to act firmly

11. put one's foot in it Informal to make an embarrassing and tactless mistake

12. under foot on the ground

Verb

1. foot it Informal to travel on foot

2. foot the bill to pay the entire cost of something

See also feet [Old English fōt]

footless adj

USAGE: In front of another noun, the plural for the unit of length is foot: a 20-foot putt; his 70-foot ketch. Foot can also be used instead of feet when mentioning a quantity and in front of words like tall: four foot of snow; he is at least six foot tall.

foot (f

Plural feet (f

A unit of length in the US Customary System equal to ¹/₃ of a yard or 12 inches (30.48 centimeters). See Table at measurement.

ThesaurusLegend: Synonyms Related Words Antonyms

Noun	1.	foot - the part of the leg of a human being below the ankle joint; "his bare feet projected from his trousers"; "armored from head to foot" human foot, pes human, human being, homo, man - any living or extinct member of the family Hominidae characterized by superior intelligence, articulate speech, and erect carriage calcaneus, heelbone, os tarsi fibulare - the largest tarsal bone; forms the human heel arcuate artery, arteria arcuata - curved artery in the foot arteria digitalis, digital arteries - arteries in the hand and foot that supply the fingers and toes arteria metatarsea, metatarsal artery - dorsal and plantar arteries to the metatarsal region of the foot intercapitular vein, vena intercapitalis - veins connecting the dorsal and palmar veins of the hand or the dorsal and plantar veins of the foot metatarsal vein, vena metatarsus - dorsal and plantar branches of veins serving the metatarsal region of the foot leg - a human limb; commonly used to refer to a whole limb but technically only the part of the limb between the knee and ankle pedal extremity, vertebrate foot - the extremity of the limb in vertebrates pes planus, splayfoot, flatfoot - a foot afflicted with a fallen arch; abnormally flattened and spread out instep - the arch of the foot sole - the underside of the foot toe - one of the digits of the foot big toe, great toe, hallux - the first largest innermost toe little toe - the fifth smallest outermost toe heel - the back part of the human foot
	2.	foot - a linear unit of length equal to 12 inches or a third of a yard; "he is six feet tall" ft linear measure, linear unit - a unit of measurement of length in, inch - a unit of length equal to one twelfth of a foot yard, pace - a unit of length equal to 3 feet; defined as 91.44 centimeters; originally taken to be the average length of a stride
	3.	foot - the lower part of anything; "curled up on the foot of the bed"; "the foot of the page"; "the foot of the list"; "the foot of the mountain" bottom - the lowest part of anything; "they started at the bottom of the hill" head - the top of something; "the head of the stairs"; "the head of the page"; "the head of the list"
	4.	foot - the pedal extremity of vertebrates other than human beings animal foot fossorial foot - foot adapted for digging as in moles hoof - the foot of an ungulate mammal bird's foot - the foot of a bird webfoot - a foot having the toes connected by folds of skin trotter - foot of a pig or sheep especially one used as food forefoot - a front foot of a quadruped hindfoot - a rear foot of a quadruped paw - a clawed foot of an animal especially a quadruped pedal extremity, vertebrate foot - the extremity of the limb in vertebrates
	5.	foot - lowest support of a structure; "it was built on a base of solid rock"; "he stood at the foot of the tower" understructure, base, groundwork, substructure, foundation, fundament bed - a foundation of earth or rock supporting a road or railroad track; "the track bed had washed away" raft foundation - a foundation (usually on soft ground) consisting of an extended layer of reinforced concrete structure, construction - a thing constructed; a complex entity constructed of many parts; "the structure consisted of a series of arches"; "she wore her hair in an amazing construction of whirls and ribbons" support - supporting structure that holds up or provides a foundation; "the statue stood on a marble support"
	6.	foot - any of various organs of locomotion or attachment in invertebrates invertebrate foot invertebrate - any animal lacking a backbone or notochord; the term is not used as a scientific classification tube foot - tentacular tubular process of most echinoderms (starfish and sea urchins and holothurians) having a sucker at the end and used for e.g. locomotion and respiration organ - a fully differentiated structural and functional unit in an animal that is specialized for some particular function
	7.	foot - travel by walking; "he followed on foot"; "the swiftest of foot" walk - the act of walking somewhere; "he took a walk after lunch"
	8.	foot - a member of a surveillance team who works on foot or rides as a passenger intelligence agent, intelligence officer, operative, secret agent - a person secretly employed in espionage for a government
	9.	foot - an army unit consisting of soldiers who fight on foot; "there came ten thousand horsemen and as many fully-armed foot" infantry army unit - a military unit that is part of an army armed forces, armed services, military, military machine, war machine - the military forces of a nation; "their military is the largest in the region"; "the military machine is the same one we faced in 1991 but now it is weaker" paratroops - infantry trained and equipped to parachute
	10.	foot - (prosody) a group of 2 or 3 syllables forming the basic unit of poetic rhythm metrical foot, metrical unit metrics, prosody - the study of poetic meter and the art of versification cadence, metre, meter, measure, beat - (prosody) the accent in a metrical foot of verse dactyl - a metrical unit with stressed-unstressed-unstressed syllables iamb, iambus - a metrical unit with unstressed-stressed syllables anapaest, anapest - a metrical unit with unstressed-unstressed-stressed syllables amphibrach - a metrical unit with unstressed-stressed-unstressed syllables (e.g., `remember') trochee - a metrical unit with stressed-unstressed syllables spondee - a metrical unit with stressed-stressed syllables dibrach, pyrrhic - a metrical unit with unstressed-unstressed syllables
	11.	foot - a support resembling a pedal extremity; "one foot of the chair was on the carpet" leg - a cloth covering consisting of the part of a pair of trousers that covers a person's leg support - any device that bears the weight of another thing; "there was no place to attach supports for a shelf"
Verb	1.	foot - pay for something; "pick up the tab"; "pick up the burden of high-interest mortgages"; "foot the bill" pick pay - give money, usually in exchange for goods or services; "I paid four dollars for this sandwich"; "Pay the waitress, please"
	2.	foot - walk; "let's hoof it to the disco" hoof, hoof it, leg it colloquialism - a colloquial expression; characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech walk - use one's feet to advance; advance by steps; "Walk, don't run!"; "We walked instead of driving"; "She walks with a slight limp"; "The patient cannot walk yet"; "Walk over to the cabinet"
	3.	foot - add a column of numbers foot up arithmetic - the branch of pure mathematics dealing with the theory of numerical calculations add together, add - make an addition by combining numbers; "Add 27 and 49, please!"