foule

See also: foulé

English

Adjective

foule (comparative more foule, superlative most foule)

1. Obsolete form of foul.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     The Patron of true Holinesse
      foule Errour doth defeate;
     Hypocrisie him to entrappe
      doth to his home entreate.

See also

• foule mudammas (etymologically unrelated)

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ful/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

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• Rhymes: -ul
• Homophones: foulent, foules

Etymology 1

Inherited from Middle French foule (“group of men, people collectively”), alteration (due to Middle French foule (“act of treading”)) of Old French foulc (“people, multitude, crowd, troop”), from Early Medieval Latin fulcus, from Frankish *folc, *fulc (“crowd, multitude, people”), from Proto-Germanic *fulką (“collection or class of people, multitude; host of warriors”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₁- (“to fill”). Cognate with Old High German folc (“people collectively, nation”), Old English folc (“common people, troop, multitude”). More at folk.

For the loss of c after l, compare Old French mareschal, seneschal, etc.

Noun

foule f (plural foules)

1. crowd

   Les psychologues sociaux ont développé plusieurs théories afin d'expliquer la façon dont la psychologie d'une foule diffère et interagit avec celle des individus en son sein.

   Social Psychologists have developed several theories to explain the way in which the psychology of a crowd differs and interacts with that of the individuals within it.

2. the thronging of a crowd
3. a great number, multitude, mass; host

Derived terms

• bain de foule

Etymology 2

From Middle French foule (“the act of milling clothes or hats”) and fouler (“to trample, mill, fordo, mistreat”), from Old French foler (“to crush, act wickedly”), from Latin fullō (“to trample, to full”). More at full.

Noun

foule f (plural foules)

1. the act or process of treading or milling
2. oppression, vexation

Verb

foule

1. inflection of fouler:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “foule”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Anagrams

• floue

German

Pronunciation

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

Verb

foule

1. inflection of foulen:
   1. first-person singular present
   2. first/third-person singular subjunctive I
   3. singular imperative

Middle English

Etymology 1

Inherited from Old English fūle (“foully”); by surface analysis, foul (“foul”) +‎ -e (adverbial suffix).

Alternative forms

• ffoule, foul
• fule (Early Middle English or Northern); fowle, foylle (Late Middle English)
• full (Lincolnshire); fulle (North Riding)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfuːl(ə)/

Adverb

foule

1. In an ugly or displeasing way; unattractively, unpleasantly:
   1. Filthily; in a dirty or revolting manner.

      Synonym: foully

   2. Noxiously, poisonously (especially of smells)
2. In an improper or incorrect way; inappropriately:

   Synonym: foully

   1. Sinfully, deceitfully; while violating morals.
   2. Disgracefully, shamefully; in a humiliating way.
3. Harshly, forcefully; in a severe way.

   Synonym: foully

4. Unfortunately; through bad luck.

   Synonym: foully

Descendants

• English: foul

References

• “fǒul(e, adv.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Etymology 2

Adjective

foule

1. inflection of foul (“foul”):
   1. weak singular
   2. strong/weak plural
2. (especially Late Middle English) alternative form of foul (“foul”)

Etymology 3

Verb

foule

1. alternative form of foulen (“to foul”)

Norman

Etymology

From Old French foulc (“people, multitude, crowd, troop”), from Vulgar Latin, from Frankish *folk (“crowd, multitude, people”), from Proto-Germanic *fulką (“collection or class of people, multitude; host of warriors”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₁- (“to fill”).

Noun

foule f (plural foules)

1. (Jersey) crowd

Synonyms

• fliotchet