foull (foul)

[ Thei haue take the Duke and ledde hym a-wey, magre hem alle betinge hym foule . Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 551. You offer foul , signior, to close; keep your distance. B. Jonson, Cynthia's Revels, v. 2. An antagonist who neither flinches nor hits foul . N. A. Rev. , CXLIL 449. foull (foul), v. [ He cut his own throate at length with a razour, fouling his infamous life with a low and dishonest departing. Saville , tr. of Tacitus, p. 41. But if you be nice to fowl your fingers (which good anglers seldome are), then take this bait. I. Walton, Complete Angler (1653), xii. Where'er I turn, some scandal fouls the way. (b) Naut ., to entangle. Lowell, To G. W. Curtis. "Twas all along of Poll, as I may say, That foul'd my cable when I ought to slip. Hood, Sailor's Apology. II. in trans. 1. To become foul or dirty: as, a gun fouls from long use. Metford's Military Grooving does not foul so rapidly, and is more easy to clean than the Match Rifle Grooving. W. W. Greener, The Gun, p. 169. 2. Naut., to come into collision, as two boats; become entangled or clogged: as, the rope fouled; the block fouled.-3. In base - ball, to strike a foul ball. To foul out, in base - ball, to be retired from the bat through the catching of a foul ball by one of the opposite nine.