fox
Meanings
- A small-to-medium-sized canine mammal, related to dogs and wolves, with a flattened skull, upright triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail, of the following groups:
- Any member of the genus Vulpes; a true fox.
- The red fox, a small carnivore (Vulpes vulpes) with red or silver fur.
- Other canines that resemble true foxes, of the genera Cerdocyon, Lycalopex, Otocyon, and Urocyon.
- The fur of a fox.
- A fox terrier.
- A flying fox.
- The gemmeous dragonet, a fish, Callionymus lyra, so called from its yellow color.
- A cunning person.
- A physically attractive person, typically a woman.
- A person with reddish brown hair, typically a woman.
- A small strand of rope made by twisting several rope-yarns together. Used for seizings, mats, sennits, and gaskets.
- To trick, fool or outwit (someone) by cunning or ingenuity.
- To confuse or baffle (someone).
- To act slyly or craftily.
- To cheat or rob.
- To discolour paper. Fox marks are spots on paper caused by humidity. (See foxing.)
- To make sour, as beer, by causing it to ferment.
- To turn sour; said of beer, etc., when it sours in fermenting.
- To intoxicate; to stupefy with drink.
- To repair (boots) with new front upper leather, or to piece the upper fronts of.
- A radiotelephony clear-code word for the letter F.
- A surname transferred from the common noun derived from the name of the animal.
- A male given name.
- Fox Broadcasting Company, a large television network in the United States.
- A placename:
- A number of places in the United States:
- A census-designated place in Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska.
- A river in Wisconsin and Illinois, United States, a tributary to the Illinois River.
- An unincorporated community and census-designated place in Stone County, Arkansas.
- An unincorporated community in Grant County, Indiana.
- An unincorporated community in Estill County, Kentucky.
- An unincorporated community in Roseau County, Minnesota.
- An unincorporated community in Carbon County, Montana.
- Someone connected with Leicester City Football Club, as a fan, player, coach etc.
- Ellipsis of Fox Indian (“a member of the Outagamie or Meskwaki, a Native American people”).
- Acronym of forkhead box protein.
Pronunciation
Word forms
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *púḱsos Proto-Germanic *fuhsaz Old English fox Middle English fox English fox From Middle English fox, from Old English fox (“fox”), from Proto-West Germanic *fuhs, from Proto-Germanic *fuhsaz (“fox”), from Proto-Indo-European *púḱsos (“the tailed one”), possibly from *puḱ- (“tail”). Cognate with Scots fox (“fox”), North Frisian foos, fos (“fox”), Saterland Frisian Foaks (“fox”), West Frisian foks (“fox”), Dutch vos (“fox”), Low German vos (“fox”), German Fuchs (“fox”), Icelandic fóa (“fox”), Tocharian B päkā (“tail, chowrie”), Russian пух (pux, “down, fluff”), Sanskrit पुच्छ (púccha) (whence Torwali پوش (pūš, “fox”), Hindi पूंछ (pūñch, “tail”)). Philosophical sense from the 1953 essay The Hedgehog and the Fox by Isaiah Berlin. Military aviation sense from the pre-NATO military spelling alphabet where Fox represented F and was short for 'to fire'.