foot

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[edit] English

A human foot.
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[edit] Etymology

From Middle English, from Old English fōt (foot), from Proto-Germanic *fōts (foot) (compare West Frisian foet, Dutch voet, German Fuß), from Proto-Indo-European *pṓds (compare Hittite pata, Latin pēs, pedis, Tocharian A pe, B pai, Lithuanian pāda (sole (foot)), Russian под (pod, ground), Ancient Greek πούς, ποδός (poús, podós), Armenian ոտն (otn), Sanskrit पद् (pád)).

[edit] Pronunciation

[edit] Noun

foot (plural feet)

  1. (countable) A biological structure found in many animals that is used for locomotion and that is frequently a separate organ at the terminal part of the leg. transl.
    A spider has eight feet.
  2. (countable, anatomy) Specifically, a human foot, which is found below the ankle and is used for standing and walking. transl.
    Southern Italy is shaped like a foot.
  3. (uncountable, often used attributively) Travel by walking.
    We went there by foot because we could not afford a taxi.
    There is a lot of foot traffic on this street.
  4. (countable) The base or bottom of anything. transl.
    I'll meet you at the foot of the stairs.
  5. (countable) The part of a flat surface on which the feet customarily rest.
    We came and stood at the foot of the bed.
  6. (countable) The end of a rectangular table opposite the head. coord.
    The host should sit at the foot of the table.
  7. (countable) A short foot-like projection on the bottom of an object to support it. transl.
    The feet of the stove hold it a safe distance above the floor.
  8. (countable) A unit of measure equal to twelve inches or one third of a yard, equal to exactly 30.48 centimetres. usage coord.
    The flag pole at the local high school is about 20 feet high.
  9. (military, plural only; not used in singular form) Foot soldiers; infantry. coord.
    King John went to battle with ten thousand foot and one thousand horse.
  10. (countable, cigars) The end of a cigar which is lit, and usually cut before lighting.
  11. (countable, sewing) The part of a sewing machine which presses downward on the fabric, and may also serve to move it forward.
  12. (countable, printing) The bottommost part of a typed or printed page. coord.
  13. (countable, prosody) The basic measure of rhythm in a poem. transl.
  14. (countable, phonology) The parsing of syllables into prosodic constituents, which are used to determine the placement of stress in languages along with the notions of constituent heads.
  15. (countable, nautical) The bottom edge of a sail. coord. transl.
    To make the mainsail fuller in shape, the outhaul is eased to reduce the tension on the foot of the sail.
  16. (countable, billiards) The end of a billiard or pool table behind the foot point where the balls are racked.
  17. (countable, botany) In a bryophyte, that portion of a sporophyte which remains embedded within and attached to the parent gametophyte plant.
    • 1992, Rudolf M. Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, page 4
      (b) sporophyte with foot reduced, the entire sporophyte enveloped by the calyptra, which is ± stipitate at the base.
  18. (countable, malacology) The muscular part of a bivalve mollusc by which it moves or holds its position on a surface.
  19. (countable, molecular biology) The globular lower domain of a protein. coord.
  20. (countable, geometry) The foot of a line perpendicular to a given line is the point where the lines intersect.
[edit] Usage notes
  • (unit of length def.): The ordinary plural of the unit of measurement is feet, but in many contexts, foot itself may be used ("he is six foot two"). This is a reflex of the Anglo-Saxon (Old English) genitive plural.[1]

[edit] Derived terms

[edit] Coordinate terms

[edit] Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

[edit] See also

  • pedal, relating to the foot

[edit] Verb

foot (third-person singular simple present foots, present participle footing, simple past and past participle footed)

  1. (transitive) To use the foot to kick (usually a ball).
  2. (transitive) To pay (a bill).
  3. (linguistics, transitive) To parse into metrical feet.

[edit] Derived terms

[edit] Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Rich Alderson, “Why do we say ‘30 years old’, but ‘a 30-year-old man’?”,[1] in Mark Israel, the alt.usage.english FAQ.

[edit] Statistics


[edit] French

[edit] Pronunciation

[edit] Noun

foot m.

  1. (uncountable) (colloquial) football (soccer)
    Zidane est un des meilleurs joueurs de foot du monde.
    Toutes les semaines, il regarde du foot à la télé.

[edit] Derived terms

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