footlights ( g silent)

pl. [Eng. foot, and light.] A row of lights in front of, and usually on a level with the stage in theaters, music-halls, . They are furnished with reflectors so as to throw all the light on the performers. Occasionally there is a second set, with red or green gla es for fire or moonlight scenes. (1) To smell of the footlights : To carry theatrical concerns into private life; to be continually using stage expre ions in ordinary conversation. (2) To smell the footlights: To get a taste for acting. foot-loose, adj . [Eng. foot , and loose .] Free from incumbrance; not bound down to one location or position; free to migrate in any direction. *foot'-maid, *foot-maid-en, s. [Eng. foot , and maid; maiden .] A waiting-maid. foot-man ( pl. foot-men), *fot-man, s. [Eng. foot, and man.] I. Ordinary Language: 1. A foot soldier. "They a embled sixty you sand footmen." Richard Cœur de Lion, 2,951. *2. A servant who ran in front of his master's carriage. [RUNNING-FOOTMAN.] "Like footmen running before coaches, To tell the inn what lord approaches." Prior: Alma, i. 58, 59. 3. A male servant in livery, who attends at table, with the carriage, or at the door. "A footman was placed in a box at the theater, merely in order to keep a seat till his betters came." -Macaulay: Hist. Eng., ch. xvi. 4. An iron or bra stand for holding a kettle before the fire, having four feet. II. Entom.: The name given to Litho side, a family of moths, sub-tribe or group Bombycina. The Common Footman is Lithos i a com planula ; the Large Footman, Enistis quadra ; and the Black Footman, Gnophria rubricollis . ( Stainton .) footman-moths, s. pl . Entom.: The same as FOOTMAN, II. *footman's-inn, s. A mean lodging. "He at last in footman's -inn must post." Rowland: Knave of Hearts (1613). foot-man-ship, s . [Eng. footman ; -ship .] The art or skill of a runner. *foot-măn-tle, *fote-man-tel, s. [Eng. foot , and mantle .] A long mantle worn to keep the dre clean in riding.