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foul one's nest

 - 3 dictionary results

foul

  [foul] adjective, -er, -est, adverb, noun, verb
Use foul one's nest in a Sentence
–adjective
1. grossly offensive to the senses; disgustingly loathsome; noisome: a foul smell.
2. containing or characterized by offensive or noisome matter: foul air; foul stagnant water.
3. filthy or dirty, as places, receptacles, clothes, etc.
4. muddy, as a road.
5. clogged or obstructed with foreign matter: a foul gas jet.
6. unfavorable or stormy: foul weather.
7. contrary, violent, or unfavorable, as the wind.
8. grossly offensive in a moral sense.
9. abominable, wicked, or vile, as deeds, crime, slander, etc.
10. scurrilous, profane, or obscene; offensive: foul language.
11. contrary to the rules or established usages, as of a sport or game; unfair: a foul blow.
12. Baseball. pertaining to a foul ball or a foul line.
13. limited in freedom of movement by obstruction, entanglement, etc.: a foul anchor.
14. abounding in errors or in marks of correction, as a printer's proof, manuscript, or the like.
15. Nautical.
a. (of the underwater portion of a hull) encrusted and impeded with barnacles, seaweed, etc.
b. (of a mooring place) involving inconveniences and dangers, as of colliding with vessels or other objects when swinging with the tide.
c. (of the bottom of a body of water) affording a poor hold for an anchor (opposed to clean ).
16. North England and Scot.. not fair; ugly or unattractive.
17. Obsolete. disfigured.
–adverb
18. in a foul manner; vilely; unfairly.
19. Baseball. into foul territory; so as to be foul: It looked like a homer when he hit it, but it went foul.
–noun
20. something that is foul.
21. a collision or entanglement: a foul between two racing sculls.
22. a violation of the rules of a sport or game: The referee called it a foul.
23. Baseball. foul ball.
–verb (used with object)
24. to make foul; defile; soil.
25. to clog or obstruct, as a chimney or the bore of a gun.
26. to collide with.
27. to cause to become entangled or caught, as a rope.
28. to defile; dishonor; disgrace: His reputation had been fouled by unfounded accusations.
29. Nautical. (of barnacles, seaweed, etc.) to cling to (a hull) so as to encumber.
30. Baseball. to hit (a pitched ball) foul (often fol. by off or away): He fouled off two curves before being struck out on a fastball.
–verb (used without object)
31. to become foul.
32. Nautical. to come into collision, as two boats.
33. to become entangled or clogged: The rope fouled.
34. Sports. to make a foul play; give a foul blow.
35. Baseball. to hit a foul ball.
—Verb phrases
36. foul out,
a. Baseball. to be put out by hitting a foul ball caught on the fly by a player on the opposing team.
b. Basketball. to be expelled from a game for having committed more fouls than is allowed.
37. foul up, Informal. to cause confusion or disorder; bungle; spoil.
—Idioms
38. fall foul or afoul of,
a. to collide with, as ships.
b. to come into conflict with; quarrel.
c. to make an attack; assault.
39. foul one's nest. to dishonor one's own home, family, or the like.
40. run foul or afoul of, to come into collision or controversy with: to run foul of the press.
Origin:
bef. 900; (adj. and n.) ME ful, foul, OE fūl; c. Goth fuls, ON fūll, OHG fūl; akin to L pūs pus, pūtēre to stink, Gk pýon pus; (adv.) ME fule, foule, deriv. of the adj.; (v.) ME fulen, deriv. of the adj.

Related forms:
foully, adverb

Synonyms:
1. repulsive, repellent. 2. fetid, putrid, stinking. 3. unclean, polluted, sullied, soiled, stained, tainted, impure. See dirty. 6. rainy, tempestuous. 7. adverse. 9. base, shameful, infamous. 10. smutty, vulgar, coarse, low. 24. sully, stain, dirty, besmirch, taint, pollute. 28. shame.

Antonyms:
1. pleasant. 3, 24. clean. 5, 6. clear.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Word Origin & History

foul  (adj.)
O.E. ful "dirty, stinking, vile, corrupt," from P.Gmc. *fulaz (cf. O.H.G. fül, M.Du. voul, Ger. faul, Goth. füls), from base *fu-, corresponding to PIE *pu-, perhaps from the sound made in reaction to smelling something bad (cf. Skt. puyati "rots, stinks," putih "foul, rotten;" Gk. puon "discharge from a sore;" L. pus "putrid matter," putere "to stink," putridus "rotten;" Lith. puviu "to rot"). Of weather, first recorded c.1380. In the sporting sense of "irregular, unfair" it is first attested 1797, though foul play is recorded from 1440. O.E. ful occasionally meant "ugly" (as contrasted with fæger (adj.), modern fair), a sense frequently found in M.E., and the cognate in Sw. is the usual word for "ugly." Foulmouthed first attested 1596 in Shakespeare. Foulmart was a M.E. word for "polecat" (from O.E. mearð "marten").
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Idioms & Phrases

foul one's nest

Also, foul one's own nest. Hurt one's own interests, as in With his constant complaints about his wife, he's only fouling his own nest. This metaphoric expression transfers a bird's soiling of its nest to human behavior. [Mid-1200s]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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