Four vs Foul - What's the difference?
four | foul |
(cardinal) A numerical value equal to ; the number after three and before five; two plus two. This many dots (••••)
*
Describing a set or group with four components.
(countable) The digit or figure 4; an occurrence thereof.
(countable) Anything measuring four units, as length.
A person who is four years old.
(cricket, countable) An event whereby a batsman hits a ball which bounces on the ground before passing over a boundary in the air, resulting in an award of 4 runs for the batting team. If the ball does not bounce before passing over the boundary, a six is awarded instead.
(rowing) Quadruple sculls.
(obsolete) A four-pennyworth of spirits.
* 1887 , Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet , IV:
Covered with, or containing unclean matter; polluted; nasty; defiled
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-29, volume=407, issue=8842, page=29, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= obscene or profane; abusive.
Hateful; detestable; unpleasant
* Milton
Loathsome; disgusting; as, a foul disease.
(obsolete) Ugly; homely; poor.
* Shakespeare
Not favorable; unpropitious; not fair or advantageous; as, a foul wind; a foul road; cloudy or rainy; stormy; not fair; -- said of the weather, sky, etc.
* Shakespeare
Not conforming to the established rules and customs of a game, conflict, test, etc.; unfair; dishonest; dishonorable; cheating.
(nautical) Having freedom of motion interfered with by collision or entanglement; entangled; - opposed to clear; as, a rope or cable may get foul while paying it out.
(baseball) Outside of the base lines; in foul territory.
To make dirty.
To besmirch.
To clog or obstruct.
(nautical) To entangle.
(basketball) To make contact with an opposing player in order to gain advantage.
(baseball) To hit outside of the baselines.
To become clogged.
To become entangled.
(basketball) To commit a foul.
(baseball) To hit a ball outside of the baselines.
(sports) A breach of the rules of a game, especially one involving inappropriate contact with an opposing player in order to gain an advantage; as, for example, foot-tripping in soccer, or contact of any kind in basketball.
* {{quote-news
, year=2011
, date=December 10
, author=Arindam Rej
, title=Norwich 4 - 2 Newcastle
, work=BBC Sport
Gosling's plight worsened when he was soon shown a red card for a foul on Martin.}} (bowling) A (usually accidental) contact between a bowler and the lane before the bowler has released the ball.
(baseball) A foul ball, a ball which has been hit outside of the base lines.
As nouns the difference between four and foul
is that four is (countable) the digit or figure 4; an occurrence thereof while foul is foul (a breach of the rules of a game).As a numeral four
is (cardinal) a numerical value equal to ; the number after three and before five; two plus two this many dots (••••).four
English
(wikipedia four)Numeral
(head)- There are four seasons: winter, spring, summer and autumn.
- Venters began to count them—one—two—three—four —on up to sixteen.
Derived terms
* on all fours * back four * four-bagger * four-ball * four-by-four/ * four-color/four-colour * four-dimensional * four-eyes * four-flush * fourfold * fourfooted/four-footed * four-handed * four horsemen * four hundred * four-in-hand * four-leaf clover * four-letter word * fourling * four-o'clock * four of a kind * four-on-the-floor * fourpence * fourpenny * fourplex * four-post bed * four-poster * four-pounder * fourscore * foursquare * four square * foursome * four-star * four-wheel drive * four-wheeler * two-by-fourDescendants
See also
*See also
* Last: three, 3 * Next: five, 5Noun
- Do you have any more fours ? I want to make this a little taller.
- I'll take the threes, fours and fives and go to the playground.
- I was a-strollin' down, thinkin' between ourselves how uncommon handy a four of gin hot would be, when suddenly the glint of a light caught my eye in the window of that same house.
See also
(four) * (Symbols of number four in various numeral systems) * (Arabic numerals): 4 * (Chinese numerals): ?, ? * (Greek numerals): (uppercase) ??, (lowercase) ?? * (Roman numerals): IV or IIIIStatistics
* 1000 English basic words ----foul
English
(Webster 1913)Etymology 1
From (etyl), from (etyl) . More at (l).Adjective
(er)Unspontaneous combustion, passage=Since the mid-1980s, when Indonesia first began to clear its bountiful forests on an industrial scale in favour of lucrative palm-oil plantations, “haze” has become an almost annual occurrence in South-East Asia. The cheapest way to clear logged woodland is to burn it, producing an acrid cloud of foul white smoke that, carried by the wind, can cover hundreds, or even thousands, of square miles.}}
- Who first seduced them to that foul revolt?
- Let us, like merchants, show our foulest wares.
- So foul a sky clears not without a storm.
Usage notes
* Nouns to which "foul" is often applied: play, ball, language, breath, smell, odor, water, weather, deed.Synonyms
* shameful; odious; wretchedDerived terms
* afoul * befoul * fall foul * nonfoul * nonfoulingEtymology 2
From (etyl) .Verb
(en verb)- to foul the face or hands with mire
- She's fouled her diaper.
- He's fouled his reputation.
- The hair has fouled the drain.
- The kelp has fouled the prop.
- Smith fouled him hard.
- Jones fouled the ball off the facing of the upper deck.
- ''The drain fouled .
- The prop fouled on the kelp.
- Smith fouled within the first minute of the quarter.
- Jones fouled for strike one.
Noun
(en noun)citation, page= , passage=A second Norwich goal in four minutes arrived after some dire Newcastle defending. Gosling gave the ball away with a sloppy back-pass, allowing Crofts to curl in a cross that the unmarked Morison powered in with a firm, 12-yard header.
Gosling's plight worsened when he was soon shown a red card for a foul on Martin.}}
- Jones hit a foul up over the screen.