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fox - 14 dictionary results

fox

[foks]

noun, plural fox⋅es, (especially collectively

) fox, verb

Use fox in a Sentence

–noun

1.	any of several carnivores of the dog family, esp. those of the genus Vulpes, smaller than wolves, having a pointed, slightly upturned muzzle, erect ears, and a long, bushy tail.

2.	the fur of this animal.

3.	a cunning or crafty person.

4.	(initial capital letter) a member of a tribe of North American Algonquian Indians, formerly in Wisconsin, later merged with the Sauk tribe.

5.	(initial capital letter) the Algonquian language of the Fox, Sauk, and Kickapoo Indians.

6.	Bible. a scavenger, perhaps the jackal. Psalms 63:10; Lam. 5:18.

7.	a word formerly used in communications to represent the letter F: replaced by Foxtrot.

8.	Slang. an attractive young woman or young man.

–verb (used with object)

9.	to deceive or trick.

10.	to repair or make (a shoe) with leather or other material applied so as to cover or form part of the upper front.

11.	Obsolete. to intoxicate or befuddle.

–verb (used without object)

12.	to act cunningly or craftily.

13.	(of book leaves, prints, etc.) to become foxed.

Origin:
bef. 900; 1960–65 for def. 9; ME, OE; c. OS vohs, MLG vos, OHG fuhs (G Fuchs). Cf. vixen

Related forms:

foxlike, adjective

Fox

[foks]

–noun

1.	Charles James, 1749–1806, British orator and statesman.

2.	George, 1624–91, English religious leader and writer: founder of the Society of Friends.

3.	John. Foxe, John.

4.	John William, Jr., 1863–1919, U.S. novelist.

5.	Margaret, 1833–93, and her sister Katherine (“Kate”), 1839–92, U.S. spiritualist mediums, born in Canada.

6.	Sir William, 1812–93, New Zealand statesman, born in England: prime minister 1856, 1861–62, 1869–72, 1873.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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fox (fŏks)

n. pl. fox·es also fox

1. Any of various carnivorous mammals of the genus Vulpes and related genera, related to the dogs and wolves and characteristically having upright ears, a pointed snout, and a long bushy tail.
2. The fur of one of these mammals.
A crafty, sly, or clever person.
Slang A sexually attractive person.
Nautical Small cordage made by twisting together two or more strands of tarred yarn.
Archaic A sword.

v. foxed, fox·ing, fox·es

v. tr.

To trick or fool by ingenuity or cunning; outwit.
To baffle or confuse.
To make (beer) sour by fermenting.
To repair (a shoe) by attaching a new upper.
Obsolete To intoxicate.

v. intr.

To act slyly or craftily.
To turn sour in fermenting. Used of beer.

[Middle English, from Old English.]

Fox (fŏks)

n. pl. Fox or Fox·es

1. A Native American people formerly inhabiting various parts of southern Michigan, southern Wisconsin, northern Illinois, and eastern Iowa, with present-day populations in central Iowa and with the Sauk in Oklahoma.
2. A member of this people.
The Algonquian language of the Fox.

[Translation of French Renards, foxes, perhaps translation of Fox wa·koše·haki, foxes (applied as a name to a clan with the totem of a fox).]

Fox, Charles James 1749-1806.
British politician who supported American independence and the French Revolution.

Fox, George 1624-1691.
English religious leader who founded the Society of Friends, or Quakers (1647-1648).

Fox, Vicente Born 1942.
Mexican businessman and politician who served as president (2000-2006), ending 71 years of uninterrupted rule by Mexico's Institutional Revolutionary Party.

Fox, William Originally Wilhelm Fried. 1879-1952.
Hungarian-born American motion-picture executive who founded his own film company (1915) and merged with 20th Century Pictures to form 20th Century Fox (1935). His company led in the development of sound movies.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Fox

Fox\, n.; pl. Foxes. [AS. fox; akin to D. vos, G. fuchs, OHG. fuhs, foha, Goth. fa['u]h?, Icel. f?a fox, fox fraud; of unknown origin, cf. Skr. puccha tail. Cf. Vixen.]

1. (Zo["o]l.) A carnivorous animal of the genus Vulpes, family Canid[ae], of many species. The European fox (V. vulgaris or V. vulpes), the American red fox (V. fulvus), the American gray fox (V. Virginianus), and the arctic, white, or blue, fox (V. lagopus) are well-known species.

Note: The black or silver-gray fox is a variety of the American red fox, producing a fur of great value; the cross-gray and woods-gray foxes are other varieties of the same species, of less value. The common foxes of Europe and America are very similar; both are celebrated for their craftiness. They feed on wild birds, poultry, and various small animals.

Subtle as the fox for prey. --Shak.

2. (Zo["o]l.) The European dragonet.

3. (Zo["o]l.) The fox shark or thrasher shark; -- called also sea fox. See Thrasher shark, under Shark.

4. A sly, cunning fellow. [Colloq.]

We call a crafty and cruel man a fox. --Beattie.

5. (Naut.) Rope yarn twisted together, and rubbed with tar; -- used for seizings or mats.

6. A sword; -- so called from the stamp of a fox on the blade, or perhaps of a wolf taken for a fox. [Obs.]

Thou diest on point of fox. --Shak.

7. pl. (Enthnol.) A tribe of Indians which, with the Sacs, formerly occupied the region about Green Bay, Wisconsin; -- called also Outagamies.

Fox and geese. (a) A boy's game, in which one boy tries to catch others as they run one goal to another. (b) A game with sixteen checkers, or some substitute for them, one of which is called the fox, and the rest the geese; the fox, whose first position is in the middle of the board, endeavors to break through the line of the geese, and the geese to pen up the fox.

Fox bat (Zo["o]l.), a large fruit bat of the genus Pteropus, of many species, inhabiting Asia, Africa, and the East Indies, esp. P. medius of India. Some of the species are more than four feet across the outspread wings. See Fruit bat.

Fox bolt, a bolt having a split end to receive a fox wedge.

Fox brush (Zo["o]l.), the tail of a fox.

Fox evil, a disease in which the hair falls off; alopecy.

Fox grape (Bot.), the name of two species of American grapes. The northern fox grape (Vitis Labrusca) is the origin of the varieties called Isabella, Concord, Hartford, etc., and the southern fox grape (Vitis vulpina) has produced the Scuppernong, and probably the Catawba.

Fox hunter. (a) One who pursues foxes with hounds. (b) A horse ridden in a fox chase.

Fox shark (Zo["o]l.), the thrasher shark. See Thrasher shark, under Thrasher.

Fox sleep, pretended sleep.

Fox sparrow (Zo["o]l.), a large American sparrow (Passerella iliaca); -- so called on account of its reddish color.

Fox squirrel (Zo["o]l.), a large North American squirrel (Sciurus niger, or S. cinereus). In the Southern States the black variety prevails; farther north the fulvous and gray variety, called the cat squirrel, is more common.

Fox terrier (Zo["o]l.), one of a peculiar breed of terriers, used in hunting to drive foxes from their holes, and for other purposes. There are rough- and smooth-haired varieties.

Fox trot, a pace like that which is adopted for a few steps, by a horse, when passing from a walk into a trot, or a trot into a walk.

Fox wedge (Mach. & Carpentry), a wedge for expanding the split end of a bolt, cotter, dowel, tenon, or other piece, to fasten the end in a hole or mortise and prevent withdrawal. The wedge abuts on the bottom of the hole and the piece is driven down upon it. Fastening by fox wedges is called foxtail wedging.

Fox wolf (Zo["o]l.), one of several South American wild dogs, belonging to the genus Canis. They have long, bushy tails like a fox.

Fox

Fox\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Foxed; p. pr. & vb. n. Foxing.] [See Fox, n., cf. Icel. fox imposture.]

1. To intoxicate; to stupefy with drink.

I drank . . . so much wine that I was almost foxed. --Pepys.

2. To make sour, as beer, by causing it to ferment.

3. To repair the feet of, as of boots, with new front upper leather, or to piece the upper fronts of.

Fox

Fox\, v. i. To turn sour; -- said of beer, etc., when it sours in fermenting.

Language Translation for : fox

Spanish: zorro,

German: der Fuchs,

Japanese: きつね

More Translations »

fox

O.E. fox, from W.Gmc. *fukhs (cf. O.H.G. fuhs, O.N. foa, Goth. fauho), from P.Gmc. base *fuh-, corresponding to PIE *puk- "tail" (cf. Skt. puccha- "tail"). The bushy tail is also the source of words for "fox" in Welsh (llwynog, from llwyn "bush"); Sp. (raposa, from rabo "tail"); Lith. (uodegis "fox," from uodega "tail"). Metaphoric extension to "clever person" is pre-1250. The verb is from 1567. Meaning "sexually attractive woman" is from 1940s; but foxy in this sense is recorded from 1895. Foxed in booksellers' catalogues means "stained with fox-colored marks." Fox-trot (dance) 1915, on notion of a fox's short steps. Foxhole is from O.E. foxhol in the literal sense; the meaning "a soldier's protective hole" is from 1919. Foxglove is O.E. foxes glofa, but the connection is obscure.

Fox

(Heb. shu'al, a name derived from its digging or burrowing under ground), the Vulpes thaleb, or Syrian fox, the only species of this animal indigenous to Palestine. It burrows, is silent and solitary in its habits, is destructive to vineyards, being a plunderer of ripe grapes (Cant. 2:15). The Vulpes Niloticus, or Egyptian dog-fox, and the Vulpes vulgaris, or common fox, are also found in Palestine. The proverbial cunning of the fox is alluded to in Ezek. 13:4, and in Luke 13:32, where our Lord calls Herod "that fox." In Judg. 15:4, 5, the reference is in all probability to the jackal. The Hebrew word _shu'al_ through the Persian _schagal_ becomes our jackal (Canis aureus), so that the word may bear that signification here. The reasons for preferring the rendering "jackal" are (1) that it is more easily caught than the fox; (2) that the fox is shy and suspicious, and flies mankind, while the jackal does not; and (3) that foxes are difficult, jackals comparatively easy, to treat in the way here described. Jackals hunt in large numbers, and are still very numerous in Southern Palestine.

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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fox

see crazy like a fox.

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