▪ I. fox, n.
(fɒks)
Also 3–7 foxe, 3, 4, 6 vox, (6 wox).
[Com. Teut.: OE. fox str. masc. corresponds to Du. vos, OHG. fuhs (MHG. vuhs, mod. Ger. fuchs); the ON. fox neut., fraud, may be a different word. The OTeut. type is *fuhs-, from the same root as the feminine formation OHG. foha (MHG. vohe, vixen, fox, ON. fóa, Goth. fauhô fox, f. OTeut. *fuh-:—pre-Teut. *puk-, which some scholars plausibly connect with Skr. puccha tail.
With regard to the Eng. and Du. o for OTeut. and HG. u before hs, cf. OE. lox = Du. los = OHG. luhs, lynx; also Du. drossaerd = OHG. truhsâȥȥo steward.]
I. 1. a. An animal of the genus Vulpes, having an elongated pointed muzzle and long bushy tail. Usually V. vulgaris, preserved in England and elsewhere as a beast of the chase.
| c 825 Vesp. Psalter lxii[i]. 11 [10] Sien sald in hond sweordes daelas foxa bioð. a 1225 Ancr. R. 294 Nimeð & keccheð us..anon þe ȝunge uoxes. a 1300 Vox & Wolf 208 in Hazl. E.P.P. I. 65 Ȝe, quad the vox, al thou most sugge. a 1300 Cursor M. 7151 Thre hundreth fox he samun knitt. 1375 Barbour Bruce xix. 663 In-till the luge a fox he saw, That fast can on a salmond gnaw. 1486 Bk. St. Albans F vj b, A skulke of ffoxis. 1597 Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. lxxix. §16 As if the world did..thinke the Foxe a goodly creature. 1674 N. Cox Gentl. Recreat. i. (1677) 8 Fox..is called the first year, a Cub. The second year, a Fox, and afterwards an old Fox. 1718 Prior Knowledge 210 The lonely fox roams far abroad, On secret rapine bent. 1835 Fonblanque Eng. under 7 Administ. (1837) III. 245 If the esteem of the people were made as much a pursuit as a stinking fox's brush. 1870 Yeats Nat. Hist. Comm. 266 The red fox of America. |
b. with allusion to its artfulness and cunning.
| c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 195 Þe fox mid his wrenches walt oðer deor and haueð his wille þerof. a 1634 Randolph Ode 64 Nor will we spare To hunt the crafty fox. 1735 Somerville Chase iii. 23 The wily Fox remain'd A subtle pilf'ring Foe, prowling around In Midnight Shades. 1791 Burns 3rd Ep. R. Graham 17 Foxes and statesmen, subtile wiles ensure. |
c. in various proverbial expressions.
| c 1450 Henryson Mor. Fab. 29 Aye runnes the Foxe as long as hee feete hes. c 1460 Towneley Myst. (Surtees) 10 Let furth youre geyse, the fox wille preche. 1539 Taverner Erasm. Prov. (1552) 27 An olde foxe is not taken in a snare. 1545 Brinklow Compl. xxiv. H v, As y{supu} mayest knowe a foxe by his furred taile. 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 153 When the foxe preacheth, then beware our geese. 1607 T. Walkington Opt. Glass 38 A Fox is known by his bush. 1662 Pepys Diary 26 Dec., We shall endeavour to joyne the lion's skin to the fox's tail. |
d. Phrases:
† to catch, hunt the fox: to get drunk.
to flay the fox: see
flay v. 6.
to play (the) fox: (
a) to act cunningly, (
b) to sham.
† to smell a fox: to be suspicious.
| 1599 Minsheu Span. Dial. 19 Whosoeuer loues good wine, hunts the foxe once a yeere. 1611 Middleton & Dekker Roaring Girle i. D.'s Wks. 1873 II. 145 Now I do smell a fox strongly. 1647 Ward Simp. Cobler 6 Tiberius play'd the Fox with the Senate of Rome. a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew s.v. Fox, He has caught a Fox, he is very Drunk. 1894 Crockett Raiders 329, I played fox several times, pretending to be in pain. |
2. fig. a. A man likened for craftiness to a fox.
| c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Luke xiii. 32 Gað & secᵹað þam foxe, deofol-seocnessa ic utadrife. 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VI (an. 31) 164 b, This auncient Fox, and pollitique Capitayne lost not one houre..till [etc.]. 1712 Arbuthnot John Bull i. iv, Don't you see how that old fox steals away your customers? 1851 Mayne Reid Scalp Hunt. l. 383, I could not help reflecting on the strange stratagem by which the old fox [Rube] had saved himself. |
b. ? Used as
adj.: Fox-like, cunning.
| c 1200 Ormin 6646 Þatt mann iss fox & hinnderrȝæp..þatt..follȝheþþ deofless wille. a 1300 Long Life in O.E. Misc. 156 Fox and ferlich is his wren[c]h. |
c. An attractive woman.
U.S. slang.| 1963 R. I. McDavid in Mencken Amer. Lang. xi. 745 A cat in hot pursuit of a chick or fox is said to have his nose wide open. 1964 L. Hairston in J. H. Clarke Harlem 290 Daddy, she was a real fox! 1967 Wentworth & Flexner Dict. Amer. Slang (Suppl.) 684 Fox, an energetic, attractive, desirable girl, esp. one having a happy and alert personality. Orig. Negro use. Pop. into white use during 1963 by heavyweight boxer Cassius Clay. 1970 R. H. Greenan Nightmare in Colour (1971) lviii. 181 A fox is a girl. A fox is a chick, you see? |
3. The fur of the fox.
| 1501 Bury Wills (Camden) 88 My tawney gown furryd w{supt} ffoxe. 1603 Shakes. Meas. for M. iii. ii. 9 A fur'd gowne to keepe him warme; and furd with Foxe and Lamb-skins too. 1882 Beck Draper's Dict., Fox..Of this fur there are several varieties. |
4. One of the northern constellations (
Vulpecula).
| 1868 Lockyer Guillemin's Heavens (ed. 3) 398 Situated between the constellations of the Swan and the Fox. |
5. a. Some beast or fish likened to a fox,
esp. the gemmeous dragonet (
Callionymus lyra), called also
fox-fish.
flying fox,
sea fox: see those words.
| 1611 Cotgr., Spase..the sea-fox, or fox dog-fish. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. iii. xxiv. 169 Some are called the Fox, the Dog, the Sparrow, or Frog-fish. 1769 Pennant Zool. III. 302 These fish [carp] are extremely cunning, and on that account are by some styled the river fox. 1836 Yarrell Brit. Fishes I. 302 Fox..The common Skulpin. |
b. Short for
fox-moth (see 16 b).
II. Senses of obscure development.
† 6. A kind of sword.
Obs. It has been conjectured that this use arose from the figure of a wolf, on certain sword-blades, being mistaken for a fox.
| 1599 Porter Angry Wom. Abingd. (Percy) 60, I had a sword..a right fox, i faith. 1633 Ford Love's Sacr. v. ii, 'Tis a tough fox, will not fail his master. 1821 Scott Kenilw. iv, Put up your fox, and let us be jogging. |
7. Brewing. (See
quot.)
Cf. fox v. 5.
| 1750 W. Ellis Country Housewife 377 (E.D.S.) That poisonous damage called in great brewhouses the fox, which gives the drink a sickish nasty taste. |
8. Naut. (See
quots. 1769, 1815.)
| 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1789), Fox a sort of strand, formed by twisting several rope-yarns together, and used as a seizing, or to weave a mat or paunch, etc. 1815 Falconer's Dict. Marine (ed. Burney), Spanish Fox, a single rope-yarn untwisted, and then twisted up the contrary way and rubbed smooth. It is used for small seizings. 1833 Marryat P. Simple (1863) 38 Mr. Jenkins desired the other men to get half-a-dozen foxes and make a spread eagle of me. c 1860 H. Stuart Seaman's Catech. 27. |
9. A drain carried under another water-course by means of a tunnel.
Cf. fox v. 3.
| 1784 M. Weighton Drainage Award 13 The Fox made under the canal. |
10. See
quot. Also fox-tail.
| 1874 Knight Dict. Mech. I. 912 Fox-bolt, a description of bolt which is made tight by a fox or wedge driven into a split in the end. |
11. pl. A variety of ironstone.
dial.| 1793–1813 A. Young Agric. Surv. Sussex 13 (E.D.S.). |
12. slang. An artificial sore.
| 1862 Mayhew & Binny Criminal Prisons Lond. 305 Daring youths..were constantly in the habit of making ‘foxes’ (artificial sores). |
13. In U.S. Colleges: A freshman.
Cf. Ger. fuchs.
| 1839 Longfellow Hyperion (1865) 77 A procession of new⁓comers or Nasty Foxes, as they are called in the college dialect. 1847 Yale Lit. Mag. Jan. XII. 116 ‘Halloo there, Herdman, fox!’ yelled another lusty tippler. |
† 14. ?
= foxglove 1.
Obs.| 1684 tr. Bonet's Merc. Compit. xiv. 473 Bathes wherein proper Herbs, especially Foxes, have been boiled. |
III. attrib. and
Comb. 15. a. simple
attrib., as
fox bitch,
fox-burrow,
fox-cover,
fox-craft,
fox-cub,
fox-earth,
fox-head (used attributively); (used for taking the fox), as
fox-gin,
fox-trap; (sense 6), as
fox-blade,
fox-broadsword.
| a 1611 Beaum. & Fl. Philaster iv. i, When my *fox-bitch Beauty grows proud, I'll borrow him. |
| c 1640 [Shirley] Capt. Underwit i. in Bullen O. Pl. II. 321 And old *fox blade made at Hounsloe heath. |
| 1826 Scott Woodst. i, A good *fox broad-sword. |
| 1550 Wilson Logike (1567) 37 a, The huntesman..will sone espie when he seeth a hole, whether it be a *Foxe borough, or not. |
| 1831 Gen. P. Thompson Exerc. (1842) I. 371 Who..turns his farm into a *fox-cover. |
| 1654 Vilvain Epit. Ess. iv. xcii. 87 Two fals Scotsh Earls of *Fox-craft fraud composed. |
| 1857 Hughes Tom Brown i. iii, To watch the *fox cubs playing in the green rides. |
| 1530 Palsgr. 222/2 *Foxe erthe, taisniere. 1824 Miss Mitford Village Ser. i. (1863) 141 Amongst broken ridges and fox-earths. |
| 1669 Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1681) 216 Small Iron-gins like *Fox-gins. |
| 1852 R. S. Surtees Sponge's Sp. Tour xviii. (1893) 88 A large gold *fox-head pin. |
| 1605 B. Jonson Volpone v. iii, Let his sport pay for 't. This is call'd the *Fox-trap. 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. I. v. 53 Places of deposit for meat, and rocks arranged as foxtraps. |
b. objective, as
fox-follower,
fox-stealer,
fox-worship;
fox poisoning vbl. n.| 1781 Cowper Conversat. 410 Though the fox he follows may be tamed, A mere *fox-follower never is reclaimed. |
| 1890 Daily News 7 July 3/8 Attempts at *fox-poisoning. |
| 1852 R. S. Surtees Sponge's Sp. Tour liii. (1893) 284 The poachers and *fox-stealers of the village. |
| 1880 I. L. Bird Japan I. 71 *Fox-worship being one of the most universal superstitions in Japan. |
c. parasynthetic, as
fox-nosed,
fox-visaged adjs.| 1889 Century Dict. s.v., The lemurs called *fox-nosed monkeys. |
| 1892 A. M. Yoshiwara Episode 41 The wares the *fox-visaged, bullet-headed gyn kept on crying. |
d. similative, as
fox-red adj.| 1910 Galsworthy Inn Tranq. (1912) 53 The wet *fox-red drifts under the beech-trees. 1926 D. H. Lawrence David x. 70 Thou hast spied out every hair in his beard. Is he not fox-red? 1956 G. Durrell My Family vii. 87 A tall, square Venetian mansion, with..green shutters and a fox-red roof. |
16. a. Special comb., as
fox-beagle, a beagle used for fox-hunting;
fox-bench, ‘indurated sand’ (
Chesh. Gloss.);
fox-bolt (see
quot.);
fox-brush, the tail of a fox used
similatively;
† fox-case, the skin of a fox;
fox-chase, (
a)
= fox-hunt: (
b) a game in imitation of this, also
attrib.;
fox-colour, a reddish-yellow colour, whence
fox-coloured adj.;
† fox-court, a place or yard in which foxes may be kept;
fox-dog, a fox-hound;
† fox-drunk a. (see
quot.);
fox-evil, ‘a disease in which the hair falls off’ (1842 Johnson
Farmer's Encycl.), alopecia (see also 16 e);
† fox-hen, ? a payment of a hen for the maintenance of fox-hunting;
fox-hound, a superior variety of hound trained and used for fox-hunting;
fox-key (see
quot.);
† fox-lungs, some medicinal preparation;
fox-mould, a name given to green sand when coloured by an oxide of iron;
fox-skin, the skin of a fox, also
attrib.;
fox-sleep, a pretended sleep;
† fox-stones pl., (
a) the testicles of a fox; (
b) an old name for
Orchis mascula;
fox-terrier, one of a breed of short-haired terriers, used for unearthing foxes, but kept chiefly as pets;
fox-wedge (see
quot.);
† fox-whelp, (
a) a cub of the fox (used also as a term of contempt); (
b)
app. a kind of cider (
cf. quot. 1664;
fox-wood (see
quot.;
cf. fox-fire).
| 1676 Lond. Gaz. No. 1108/4 A black *Fox Beagle Bitch. |
| 1816 Keatinge Trav. (1817) II. 155 Geology brings to mind here all the connexion of ideas of *fox-bench, with the denudation of forests, coal-beds, iron. 1874 *Fox-bolt [see sense 10]. |
| 1891 Daily News 1 June 2/5 Some large tails of *fox brush orchids. |
| 1610 J. Guillim Heraldry iii. xxiii. (1611) 170 Where the Lion's skin is too scant it must bee peeced out with a *fox case. a 1625 Fletcher Woman's Prize ii. ii, You old fox-case. |
| a 1704 T. Brown Praise Poverty Wks. 1730 I. 98 A kind of *Fox-chace pleasure. 1732 Pope Ep. Cobham 74 Mad at a Fox-chase, wise at a Debate. 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. I. xiii. 145 A ‘fox-chase’ round the decks. |
| 1796 Withering Brit. Plants IV. 193 Gills white, in pairs: pileus *fox colour, convex. |
| 1641 Best Farm. Bks. (Surtees) 84 *Foxe coloured lambes. 1879 O. N. Rood Chromatics iv. 45 A fox-coloured yellow. |
| 1781 P. Beckford Hunting (1802) 328 If you breed up cubs, you will find a *fox-court necessary. |
| 1708 Motteux Rabelais iv. xliv. (1737) 178 Some of your Badger's or *Fox-Dogs. |
| 1592 Nashe P. Pennilesse Wks. (Grosart) II. 82 The eighth [kind of drunkenness] is *Fox drunke, when he is craftie drunke. |
| 1659 Torriano, Alopecia, the falling or shedding of a mans hair through foul diseases, called the *Fox-evil. |
| 1528 Sir R. Weston in Dillon Calais & Pale (1892) 93 He hath of every householde..a henne by name of the *‘fox henne’, for the which he ys lykewyse bounde to hunt the foxe. |
| a 1763 Shenstone Œcon. i. 94 Who lavishes his wealth On racer, *fox-hound, hawk or spaniel. |
| 1874 Knight Dict. Mech. I. 912 *Fox-key (Machinery), a splitcotter with a thin wedge of steel driven into the end to prevent its working back. |
| 1660 Act 12 Chas. II, c. 4, Rates Inwards, [In List of Drugs] *Fox lungs the pound iiis. |
| 1807 Vancouver Agric. Devon (1813) 42 A moist peaty earth on a reddish brown clay, highly retentive of water, and commonly called *fox mould. |
| 1598 Hakluyt Voy. I. 71 Who gaue vnto eche of vs a gowne made of *Foxe-skinnes. 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. II. App. xi. 311 Dressing in fox⁓skin clothing. |
| 1596 Lodge Margarite Amer. (1876) 30 Entering Arsadachus chamber [they] found him in his *foxe sleepe. 1623 Hexham Tongue-Combat Ep. Ded. 3 That stupide Lethargie or reserued Foxe-sleepe of Policie, wherein they lye bed-rid. |
| 1597 Gerarde Herbal i. cxiii. (1633) 212 There be divers sorts of *Fox-stones. 1604 Marston & Webster Malcontent ii. ii, Jelly of cock-sparrows, he-monkey's marrow, or powder of fox-stones. |
| 1823 Byron Juan vii. xxiv, Unless they are game as bull-dogs and *fox-terriers. |
| 1888 Greenwell Coal-trade Terms Northumb. & Durh. (ed. 3), *Fox-wedge, a long wedge driven between two other wedges with their thick ends placed in the opposite direction. |
| c 1320 Sir Beues 1733 Aȝilt þe, a seide, þow *fox welp. c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. iv. pr. iii. 78 Yif he..reioyseth him to rauisshe by wyles, thou shalt seyn him lyke to the fox whelpes. [1664 Evelyn Pomona iv. 14 For the kinds then of Cider-Apples in being..Some commend the Fox-Whelp.] 1837 Southey Doctor Interch. xvi, Fox-whelp, a beverage as much better than Champagne, as it is honester, wholesomer and cheaper. |
| 1889 Century Dict., *Fox-wood..decayed wood, especially such as emits a phosphorescent light [U.S.]. |
b. esp. in names of animals, etc. having a real or fancied resemblance to the fox, as
† fox-ape, ? the opossum;
fox-bat = flying fox;
fox-fish, see
fox n. 5;
fox-lynx, a variety of lynx;
fox-moth, a greyish-brown European bombycid moth (
Lasiocampa rubi);
fox-shark, the sea-fox (
Alopias vulpes);
fox-snake, a large harmless snake of the United States (
Elaphe vulpina);
fox-sparrow, a North American sparrow (
Passerella iliaca);
fox-squirrel, a North American squirrel (
Sciurus cinereus,
S. niger, etc.).
| 1594 Blundevil Exerc. v. (ed. 7) 570 Gesner calleth this Beast an Ape-Foxe, or a *Fox-Ape. |
| 1834 H. Caunter Orient. Ann. xiv. 187 The *fox-bat bustled from his covert among the tombs. |
| 1862 H. Marryat Year in Sweden II. 439 The Räflo, or *fox-lynx, of a soft reddish-white fur. |
| 1828 Stark Elem. Nat. Hist. I. 385 The *Fox Shark. |
| 1857 Trans. Ill. Agric. Soc. II. 658 They are also found in the stomachs of the milk-snake,..and of the large *fox-snake (Scotophis vulpinus). 1958 R. Conant Field Guide Reptiles U.S. 157 Fox snake... Ground color varies from yellowish to light brown, and the dark spots and blotches from chocolate to black. |
| 1869 J. Burroughs in Galaxy Mag. (N.Y.) Aug., The *fox-sparrow..comes to us in the fall. |
| 1791 W. Bartram Carolina 283 The great black *fox squirrel. 1844 Gosse in Zoologist II. 707 Some towering oaks, on which several fox squirrels (Sciurus capistratus) were frisking. |
c. in plant-names, as
fox-bane, a species of monkshood (
Aconitum Vulparia);
fox-berry = bearberry;
fox-chop (see
quot.);
fox-finger(s = foxglove;
fox-geranium,
-grass, herb Robert (
Geranium Robertianum);
fox-grape, a name for several North American species of wild grapes. Also
foxglove,
foxtail.
| 1840 Paxton Bot. Dict., *Foxbane. |
| 1866 Treas. Bot., *Fox⁓chop, Mesembryanthemum vulpinum. |
| 1657 W. Coles Adam in Eden lxvii. 126 Some call it *Fox-finger. |
| 1657 Austen Fruit Trees i. 59 The *Fox Grape is a faire large fruit. 1683 Penn Wks. (1782) IV. 302 The great red grape (now ripe) called by ignorance, ‘The fox-grape’, (because of the relish it hath with unskilful palates). 1849 Lowell Biglow P. Poet. Wks. (1879) 176 Growing so fairly..as a fox-grape over a scrub-oak in a swamp. |
d. in the names of various games in which one of the players acts as a fox, as
fox and geese, a game played on a board with pegs, draughtsmen, or the like;
fox and hounds, a boys' game, in which the ‘hounds’ chase the ‘fox’;
† fox in or to the or thy hole (see
quots.).
| 1633 Marmion Fine Companion ii. v, Let him sit in the shop..and play at *fox and geese with the foreman. 1856 Mrs. Browning Aur. Leigh ix. Poems 1890 VI. 351 Though you played At ‘fox and goose’ about him with your soul. |
| 1821 Clare Vill. Minstr. II. 37 Noise of blind-man's buff, and *fox-and-hounds. |
| 1585 J. Higins Junius' Nomenclator 298 A kinde of playe wherein boyes lift up one leg and hop on the other; it is called *fox in thy hole. 1648 Herrick Hesper., New Yeares Gift (1869) 134 The wassel-boule, That tost up after Fox-i-th' hole. 1783 Ainsworth Lat. Dict. (Morell) vi. Discoliasmus, Children's play, called Fox to thy hole. |
e. with genitive
fox's, as
fox's cough (see
quot.);
† foxes evil = fox-evil;
fox's foot, a kind of grass (
Dactylis glomerata L.); in early use,
perh. Sparganium simplex;
fox's tail (see
foxtail).
| 1611 Cotgr., Toux de regnard, the *Foxes cough; a rooted, or old-growne cough, which waits on a man to his graue. |
| 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 379 Troubled with the *foxes evill. 1671 H. M. tr. Colloq. Erasm. 134 The foxes evil (falling off of the hair) had made him almost quite bald. |
| c 1000 Sax. Leechd. I. 150 Genim þysse wyrte wyrttruman þe man..*foxesfot nemneð. 1853 Johnston Nat. Hist. E. Bord. I. 216 Dactylis glomerata, Fox's-foot, which the clustered panicle somewhat resembles. |
▸ With capital initial. Plural unchanged,
-es. after French
Renard in this sense (see
reynard n. and discussion
s.v.)
a. A member of the Meskwaki people (see Meskwaki
n.). Now
hist. Previously also known as
Renard,
Reynard (see
reynard n.) and
Outagami (see Outagami
n.).
Meskwaki is now the preferred term.
| 1755 L. Evans Geogr. Ess. 17, I think the Wiandóts the same as the Foxes or Outagamis. 1760 T. Jefferys Nat. & Civil Hist. of French Dominions in N. & S. Amer. I. 48 A small river..discharges itself into the bottom of the bay, and is known by the name of..the River of Foxes, on account of the neighbourhood of the Outagamis, commonly called Renards, or Foxes. 1766J. Goldthwait List of Different Nations of Indians in Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll. (1809) (1st Ser.) X. 122 Enclosed..is a pair of Indian Moccasons, made by a squaw of the Fox tribe. 1815 Amer. State Papers (1834) (Class II) II. 4 The said Fox tribe or nation do hereby assent to, recognise, re-establish, and confirm the treaty of St. Louis. 1881 Encycl. Brit. XII. 832/1 The Sacs and Foxes, now one tribe, located in Indian Territory, were originally separate. 1931 Mississippi Valley Hist. Rev. 18 13 When they attempted to retreat from Detroit a rash commandant followed and gave battle in which a large number of the Foxes were killed. 1978C. Callender in Handbk. N. Amer. Indians XV. 636/1 Throughout their precontact history the Fox have been a single clearly defined tribe, but the United States government has blurred their identity by bracketing them with the Sauk. 1999 Current Anthropol. 40 172/2 The Mesquakis (or Fox, as earlier anthropologists called them), an Algonquian-speaking Woodlands tribe of approximately 5,000, lived in Wisconsin until the 1740s. |
b. The Algonquian language of the Fox; Meskwaki.
| 1845R. G. Latham in Trans. Philol. Soc. 2 xxviii. 33/1 English leg... Sack and Fox nenanah. 1921 T. Michelson Owl Sacred Pack of Fox Indians 18 This sound does not occur in ordinary spoken Fox. 1937 R. H. Lowie Hist. Ethnol. Theory ix. 133 Foremost among his earlier students was the part-Fox William Jones, who transcribed a superb series of Fox and Ojibwa texts. 1979I. Goddard in L. Campbell & M. Mithun Langs. Native Amer. 101 Outside of Eastern Algonquian a comparable category to the Eastern Algonquian absentative is found only in the demonstrative pronoun systems of Fox and Blackfoot. 1992 Word 43 152 Amy Dahlstrom gives a detailed description of the use of independent pronouns in Fox. |
▪ II. fox, v. (
fɒks)
[f. prec. n.] 1. † a. trans. To play the fox for; to compass by crafty means (
obs.).
b. intr. To play the fox, dissemble, sham. Now
dial. and
slang.| 1602 Warner Alb. Eng. ix. liii. (1612) 239 Insociable, Maleparte, foxing their priuate good. 1646 R. Baillie Lett. & Jrnls. (1841) II. 351 The other pettie princes are foxeing alreadie for fear. 1884 Chester Gloss., Fox, to sham. 1886 D. C. Murray 1st Pers. Singular xxix, He had played the fox for so many years, that now to his mind everybody was dodging and foxing. |
2. a. trans. To intoxicate, befuddle. Also (?
nonce-use), to redden (one's nose) with drinking.
| 1611 [Tarlton] Jests (1844) 21 Before they parted they foxt Tarlton at the Castle in Pater Noster Row. 1649 W. Blithe Eng. Improv. Impr. (1652) 258 It [Cider] serves as well..for men to fox their noses. 1660 Pepys Diary 26 Oct., The last of whom I did almost fox with Margate ale. a 1734 North Exam. ii. iv. §41 (1740) 251 Mr. Atkins was..at Greenwich, and there, at an Entertainment of some Ladies, soundly foxed, the Attorney General threw up. |
† b. transf. To stupefy (fish).
Obs.| 1650 H. More Enthus. Triumph. (1656) 86 For ought you know, it may be onely a charm to fox fishes. 1787 Best Angling (ed. 2) 67 Take heart-wort, and lime, mingle them together, and throw them into a standing water, and it will fox them [fishes]. 1805 Sporting Mag. XXVI. 178 Two gentlemen..were foxing fish in the river Calder. |
c. fig. To delude.
| a 1660 H. Peters in South Serm. (Bohn) I. 540 Fox them a little more with religion. a 1734 North Exam. i. ii. §115 (1740) 93 When the Faction had..once foxed the People with an ill Opinion of the Government. 1835 A. B. Longstreet Georgia Scenes 63 Has he foxed you? 1906 E. Phillpotts Portreeve i. xv, Don't fox yourself to think that. That's mad. Ibid. ii. xviii, Love makes a man cunning... I foxed you fifty times. 1942 Times 1 June 4/3 ‘We had the guns absolutely foxed,’ a pilot said. 1963 Times 25 Feb. 13/5, I like to imagine some house⁓holder in the next century trying to piece together our lives and interests. Will she be foxed by literature addressed to Mr. H.-T. (my husband)? |
† d. intr. To get drunk.
Obs.| 1649 Lovelace Lucasta (1864) 8 The humble tenant, that does bring A chicke or egges..Is tane into the buttry, and does fox Equall with him that gave a stalled oxe. |
† 3. trans. To pierce with a ‘fox’ (see
fox n. 6).
| 1567 Edwards Damon & Pithias in Hazl. Dodsley IV. 68 Jack. By the mass, I will box you. Will. By Cock, I will fox you. 1589 Pasquil's Ret. Nashe's Wks. (Grosart) I. 123 Diuinitie..holding of her hart as if she were sicke, because Martin would have foxed her. |
4. trans. To discolour (the leaves of a book). See
foxed ppl. a.
5. intr. Of beer: To turn sour in fermenting; also
trans. (causatively).
| 1744–50 W. Ellis Mod. Husb. II. i. 130 (E.D.S.) She..took out the wort..laying it thin enough to be out of danger of foxing. 1830 M. Donovan Dom. Econ. I. 213 In this way the fermentation may fearlessly be conducted during the warmest weather without risk of foxing. |
6. trans. To repair (boots or shoes) by renewing the upper leather; also to ornament (the upper of a shoe) with a strip of leather.
| 1796 Grose Dict. Vulg. Tongue (ed. 3), Foxing a Boot, mending the foot by capping it. 1889 Farmer Americanisms, Fox, a shoemaker's term, to repair boots. |
7. intr. To hunt the fox.
U.S. † 8. trans. ? To trim (a horse's ears) in some manner.
Obs.| 1806 Spirit Pub. Jrnls. (1807) X. 109 He..appears..What the jockies call a roarer. His owners are anxious to have his ears foxed; but we think he is more in need of cropping and docking. |
9. Comb. † fox-mine-host (see
quot. and sense 2).
| 1622 Marbe tr. Aleman's Guzman d'Alf. i. iii. ii. 194 They may afterwards play at Foxe mine Host, or some other Drinking Game at Cards or Dice for their recreation. |