fox
UK /fɒks/ · US /fɑks/ noun, verb, proper noun
Forms foxes foxen foxing foxed Foxs foxe
- noun Any member of the genus Vulpes; a true fox.
- noun (in particular) The red fox, a small carnivore (Vulpes vulpes) with red or silver fur. “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.”
- noun Other canines that resemble true foxes, of the genera Cerdocyon, Lycalopex, Otocyon, and Urocyon.
- noun (uncountable) The fur of a fox.
- noun A fox terrier.
- noun (Australia) A flying fox.
- noun The gemmeous dragonet, a fish, Callionymus lyra, so called from its yellow color.
- noun (figurative) A cunning person.
- verb (transitive) To trick, fool or outwit (someone) by cunning or ingenuity.
- verb To sham, to dissemble.
- verb (transitive) To confuse or baffle (someone). “This crossword puzzle has completely foxed me.”
- verb (intransitive) To act slyly or craftily.
- verb (transitive, dated) To cheat or rob.
- verb (intransitive) To discolour paper. Fox marks are spots on paper caused by humidity. (See foxing.) “The pages of the book show distinct foxing.”
- verb (transitive) To make sour, as beer, by causing it to ferment.
- verb (intransitive) To turn sour; said of beer, etc., when it sours in fermenting.
- noun (World War II era, joint US/RAF) A radiotelephony clear-code word for the letter F.
- proper noun A surname transferred from the common noun derived from the name of the animal.
- proper noun A male given name.
- proper noun (US, broadcasting, uncountable) Fox Broadcasting Company, a large television network in the United States. “I watched a great show on Fox last night.”
Synonyms
beaut beauty bobby-dazzler crumpet dish vision dreamboat eye candy good looker looker lulu sex on a stick sex on legs smoke show stunna stunner beefcake bona omi Chad chicken dodger slyboots Charles James Fox George Fox flim-flam play a joke on play tricks trick fob pull a fast one on
Antonyms
Etymology
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 Yola vox, voxe (“fox”), North Frisian foos (“fox”), Saterland Frisian Foaks (“fox”), West Frisian foks (“fox”), Alemannic German Fuchs, Fugs, fuksch, fuks, fòcks, vucks (“fox”), Bavarian Fuchs, vucs, vuks (“fox”), Central Franconian Fuss (“fox”), Cimbrian buks, vuks (“fox”), Dutch vos (“fox”), German Fuchs (“fox”), Low German Voss (“fox”), Luxembourgish Fuuss (“fox”), Vilamovian füks (“fox”), Yiddish פֿוקס (fuks, “fox”), Norn fúa (“she-fox”), Gothic 𐍆𐌰𐌿𐌷𐍉 (fauhō, “fox”); also Bulgarian, Russian, and Ukrainian пух (pux, “down, fluff”), Polish puch (“down, fluff; snow”), Sanskrit पुच्छ (púccha, “tail; hind-part”) (whence Bengali পুচ্ছ (puccho, “tail”), Hindi पूँछ (pū̃ch), पूंछ (pūñch, “tail; rear of an object”), Pali puccha (“tail”), Punjabi ਪੂਛ (pūch, “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'.
* (surname): From fox (“a vulpine animal”)
Webster’s 1913
- noun A carnivorous animal of the genus Vulpes, family Canidæ, of many species. The European fox (V. vulgaris or V. vulpes), the American red fox (V. fulvus), the American gray fox (V. Virginianus), and the arctic, white, or blue, fox (V. lagopus) are well-known species.
- noun The European dragonet.
- verb To intoxicate; to stupefy with drink.
- verb To make sour, as beer, by causing it to ferment.
Etymology [AS. fox; akin to D. vos, G. fuchs, OHG. fuhs, foha, Goth. faúh, Icel. f fox, fox fraud; of unknown origin, cf. Skr. puccha tail. Cf. Vixen.]
Etymology [See Fox, n., cf. Icel. fox imposture.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “fox”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details