What is "foot"

Foot \Foot\ (f[oo^]t), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Footed; p. pr. & vb. n. Footing.]

1. To tread to measure or music; to dance; to trip; to skip.
   --Dryden.

2. To walk; -- opposed to ride or fly.
   --Shak.

Foot \Foot\, v. t.

1. To kick with the foot; to spurn.
   --Shak.

2. To set on foot; to establish; to land. [Obs.]

   What confederacy have you with the traitors Late footed in the kingdom?
   --Shak.

3. To tread; as, to foot the green.
   --Tickell.

4. To sum up, as the numbers in a column; -- sometimes with up; as, to foot (or foot up) an account.

5. To seize or strike with the talon. [Poet.]
   --Shak.

6. To renew the foot of, as of a stocking.
   --Shak.

   To foot a bill, to pay it. [Colloq.] -- To foot it, to walk; also, to dance.

   If you are for a merry jaunt, I'll try, for once, who can foot it farthest.
   --Dryden.

Foot \Foot\ (f[oo^]t), n.; pl. Feet (f[=e]t). [OE. fot, foot, pl. fet, feet. AS. f[=o]t, pl. f[=e]t; akin to D. voet, OHG. fuoz, G. fuss, Icel. f[=o]tr, Sw. fot, Dan. fod, Goth. f[=o]tus, L. pes, Gr. poy`s, Skr. p[=a]d, Icel. fet step, pace measure of a foot, feta to step, find one's way. [root]77, 250. Cf. Antipodes, Cap-a-pie, Expedient, Fet to fetch, Fetlock, Fetter, Pawn a piece in chess, Pedal.]

1. (Anat.) The terminal part of the leg of man or an animal; esp., the part below the ankle or wrist; that part of an animal upon which it rests when standing, or moves. See Manus, and Pes.

2. (Zo["o]l.) The muscular locomotive organ of a mollusk. It is a median organ arising from the ventral region of body, often in the form of a flat disk, as in snails. See Illust. of Buccinum.

3. That which corresponds to the foot of a man or animal; as, the foot of a table; the foot of a stocking.

4. The lowest part or base; the ground part; the bottom, as of a mountain, column, or page; also, the last of a row or series; the end or extremity, esp. if associated with inferiority; as, the foot of a hill; the foot of the procession; the foot of a class; the foot of the bed;; the foot of the page.

   And now at foot Of heaven's ascent they lift their feet.
   --Milton.

5. Fundamental principle; basis; plan; -- used only in the singular.

   Answer directly upon the foot of dry reason.
   --Berkeley.

6. Recognized condition; rank; footing; -- used only in the singular. [R.]

   As to his being on the foot of a servant.
   --Walpole.

7. A measure of length equivalent to twelve inches; one third of a yard. See Yard.

   Note: This measure is supposed to be taken from the length of a man's foot. It differs in length in different countries. In the United States and in England it is 304.8 millimeters.

8. (Mil.) Soldiers who march and fight on foot; the infantry, usually designated as the foot, in distinction from the cavalry. ``Both horse and foot.''
   --Milton.

9. (Pros.) A combination of syllables consisting a metrical element of a verse, the syllables being formerly distinguished by their quantity or length, but in modern poetry by the accent.

10. (Naut.) The lower edge of a sail. Note: Foot is often used adjectively, signifying of or pertaining to a foot or the feet, or to the base or lower part. It is also much used as the first of compounds. Foot artillery. (Mil.)

    1. Artillery soldiers serving in foot.

    2. Heavy artillery. --Farrow. Foot bank (Fort.), a raised way within a parapet. Foot barracks (Mil.), barracks for infantery. Foot bellows, a bellows worked by a treadle. --Knight. Foot company (Mil.), a company of infantry. --Milton. Foot gear, covering for the feet, as stocking, shoes, or boots. Foot hammer (Mach.), a small tilt hammer moved by a treadle. Foot iron.

       1. The step of a carriage.

       2. A fetter. Foot jaw. (Zo["o]l.) See Maxilliped. Foot key (Mus.), an organ pedal. Foot level (Gunnery), a form of level used in giving any proposed angle of elevation to a piece of ordnance. --Farrow. Foot mantle, a long garment to protect the dress in riding; a riding skirt. [Obs.] Foot page, an errand boy; an attendant. [Obs.] Foot passenger, one who passes on foot, as over a road or bridge. Foot pavement, a paved way for foot passengers; a footway; a trottoir. Foot poet, an inferior poet; a poetaster. [R.] --Dryden. Foot post.

          1. A letter carrier who travels on foot.

          2. A mail delivery by means of such carriers. Fot pound, & Foot poundal. (Mech.) See Foot pound and Foot poundal, in the Vocabulary. Foot press (Mach.), a cutting, embossing, or printing press, moved by a treadle. Foot race, a race run by persons on foot. --Cowper. Foot rail, a railroad rail, with a wide flat flange on the lower side. Foot rot, an ulcer in the feet of sheep; claw sickness. Foot rule, a rule or measure twelve inches long. Foot screw, an adjusting screw which forms a foot, and serves to give a machine or table a level standing on an uneven place. Foot secretion. (Zo["o]l.) See Sclerobase. Foot soldier, a soldier who serves on foot. Foot stick (Printing), a beveled piece of furniture placed against the foot of the page, to hold the type in place. Foot stove, a small box, with an iron pan, to hold hot coals for warming the feet. Foot tubercle. (Zo["o]l.) See Parapodium. Foot valve (Steam Engine), the valve that opens to the air pump from the condenser. Foot vise, a kind of vise the jaws of which are operated by a treadle. Foot waling (Naut.), the inside planks or lining of a vessel over the floor timbers. --Totten. Foot wall (Mining), the under wall of an inclosed vein. By foot, or On foot, by walking; as, to pass a stream on foot. Cubic foot. See under Cubic. Foot and mouth disease, a contagious disease (Eczema epizo["o]tica) of cattle, sheep, swine, etc., characterized by the formation of vesicles and ulcers in the mouth and about the hoofs. Foot of the fine (Law), the concluding portion of an acknowledgment in court by which, formerly, the title of land was conveyed. See Fine of land, under Fine, n.; also Chirograph. (b). Square foot. See under Square. To be on foot, to be in motion, action, or process of execution. To keep the foot (Script.), to preserve decorum. ``Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God.'' --Eccl. v. 1. To put one's foot down, to take a resolute stand; to be determined. [Colloq.] To put the best foot foremost, to make a good appearance; to do one's best. [Colloq.] To set on foot, to put in motion; to originate; as, to set on foot a subscription. To put one on his feet, or set one on his feet, to put one in a position to go on; to assist to start. Under foot.

             1. Under the feet; (Fig.) at one's mercy; as, to trample under foot.
                --Gibbon.

             2. Below par. [Obs.] ``They would be forced to sell . . . far under foot.''
                --Bacon.

"terminal part of the leg of a vertebrate animal," Old English fot "foot," from Proto-Germanic *fot (cognates: Old Frisian fot, Old Saxon fot, Old Norse fotr, Danish fod, Swedish fot, Dutch voet, Old High German fuoz, German Fuß, Gothic fotus "foot"), from PIE *ped- (1) "a foot" (cognates: Avestan pad-; Sanskrit pad-, accusative padam "foot;" Greek pos, Attic pous, genitive podos; Latin pes, genitive pedis "foot;" Lithuanian padas "sole," peda "footstep"). Plural form feet is an instance of i-mutation.\n

\nThe linear measure was in Old English (the exact length has varied over time), this being considered the length of a man's foot; a unit of measure used widely and anciently. In this sense the plural is often foot. The current inch and foot are implied from measurements in 12c. English churches (Flinders Petrie, "Inductive Metrology"), but the most usual length of a "foot" in medieval England was the foot of 13.2 inches common throughout the ancient Mediterranean. The Anglo-Saxon foot apparently was between the two. All three correspond to units used by the Romans, and possibly all three lengths were picked up by the Anglo-Saxons from the Romano-Britons. "That the Saxon units should descend to mediæval times is most probable, as the Normans were a ruling, and not a working, class." [Flinders Petrie, 1877]. The medieval Paul's Foot (late 14c.) was a measuring standard cut into the base of a column at the old St. Paul's cathedral in London. The metrical foot (late Old English, translating Latin pes, Greek pous in the same sense) is commonly taken to represent one rise and one fall of a foot: keeping time according to some, dancing according to others.\n

\nIn Middle English also "a person" (c.1200), hence non-foot "nobody." Meaning "bottom or lowest part of anything eminent or upright" is from c.1200. Of a bed, grave, etc., from c.1300. On foot "by walking" is from c.1300. To get off on the wrong foot is from 1905 (the right foot is by 1907); to put one's best foot foremost first recorded 1849 (Shakespeare has the better foot before, 1596); Middle English had evil-foot (adv.) "through mischance, unluckily." To put one's foot in (one's) mouth "say something stupid" is attested by 1942; the expression put (one's) foot in something "make a mess of it" is from 1823. To have one foot in the grave "be near death" is from 1844. Colloquial exclamation my foot! expressing "contemptuous contradiction" [OED] is attested by 1923, probably euphemistic for my ass in the same sense, which dates to 1796 (also see eyewash).

c.1400, "to dance," also "to move or travel on foot," from foot (n.). From mid-15c. as "make a footing or foundation." To foot a bill "pay the entirety of" is attested from 1848, from the process of tallying the expenses and writing the figure at the bottom ("foot") of the sheet; foot (v.) as "add up and set the sum at the foot of" is from late 15c. (compare footnote (n.)). The Old English verb gefotian meant "to hasten up." Related: Footed; footing.

n. 1 (context countable English) A biological structure found in many animals that is used for locomotion and that is frequently a separate organ at the terminal part of the leg. (jump body part t) 2 (context countable anatomy English) Specifically, a human foot, which is found below the ankle and is used for standing and walking. (jump human body part t) 3 (context uncountable often used attributively English) Travel by walking. (jump: walking) 4 (context countable English) The base or bottom of anything. (jump base t) 5 (context countable English) The part of a flat surface on which the feet customarily rest. 6 (context countable English) The end of a rectangular table opposite the head. (jump end of a table co) 7 (context countable English) A short foot-like projection on the bottom of an object to support it. (jump support t) 8 (context countable English) A unit of measure equal to twelve inches or one third of a yard, equal to exactly 30.48 centimetres. (jump unit of length u co) vb. 1 (context transitive English) To use the foot to kick (usually a ball). 2 (context transitive English) To pay (a bill). 3 To tread to measure or music; to dance; to trip; to skip. 4 To walk. 5 To tread. 6 (context obsolete English) To set on foot; to establish; to land. 7 To renew the foot of (a stocking, etc.). 8 To sum up, as the numbers in a column; sometimes with ''up''.

1. v. pay for something; "pick up the tab"; "pick up the burden of high-interest mortgages"; "foot the bill" [syn: pick]

2. walk; "let's hoof it to the disco" [syn: leg it, hoof, hoof it]

3. add a column of numbers [syn: foot up]

4. [also: feet (pl)]

1. n. a linear unit of length equal to 12 inches or a third of a yard; "he is six feet tall" [syn: ft]

2. the foot of a human being; "his bare feet projected from his trousers"; "armored from head to foot" [syn: human foot, pes]

3. the lower part of anything; "curled up on the foot of the bed"; "the foot of the page"; "the foot of the list"; "the foot of the mountain" [ant: head]

4. travel by foot; "he followed on foot"; "the swiftest of foot"

5. a foot of a vertebrate other than a human being [syn: animal foot]

6. a support resembling a pedal extremity; "one foot of the chair was on the carpet"

7. lowest support of a structure; "it was built on a base of solid rock"; "he stood at the foot of the tower" [syn: foundation, base, fundament, groundwork, substructure, understructure]

8. any of various organs of locomotion or attachment in invertebrates [syn: invertebrate foot]

9. an army unit consisting of soldiers who fight on foot; "there came ten thousand horsemen and as many fully-armed foot" [syn: infantry]

10. a member of a surveillance team who works on foot or rides as a passenger

11. a group of 2 or 3 syllables forming the basic unit of poetic rhythm [syn: metrical foot, metrical unit]

12. [also: feet (pl)]

The foot (plural feet) is an anatomical structure found in many vertebrates. It is the terminal portion of a limb which bears weight and allows locomotion. In many animals with feet, the foot is a separate organ at the terminal part of the leg made up of one or more segments or bones, generally including claws or nails.

The Ancient Egyptian Foot hieroglyph, Gardiner sign listed no. D58 is a side view of the human foot and the lower leg.

The foot hieroglyph is used in the Ancient Egyptian language hieroglyphs for the alphabetic consonant letter b.

A foot ( feet; abbreviation: ft; symbol: ′, the prime symbol) is a unit of length in the imperial and US customary systems of measurement. Since 1959, both units have been defined by international agreement as equivalent to 0.3048 meters exactly. In both systems, the foot comprises 12 inches and three feet compose a yard.

Historically the "foot" was a part of many local systems of units, including the Greek, Roman, Chinese, French, and English systems. It varied in length from country to country, from city to city, and sometimes from trade to trade. Its length was usually between 250 mm and 335 mm and was generally, but not always, subdivided into 12 inches or 16 digits.

The United States is the only industrialized nation that uses the international foot and the survey foot (a customary unit of length) in preference to the meter in its commercial, engineering, and standards activities. The foot is legally recognized in the United Kingdom; road signs must use imperial units (however distances on road signs are always marked in yards, not feet), while its usage is widespread among the British public as a measurement of height. The foot is recognized as an alternative expression of length in Canada officially defined as a unit derived from the meter although both have partially metricated their units of measurement. The measurement of altitude in the aviation industry is one of the few areas where the foot is widely used outside the English-speaking world.

The foot is the basic metrical unit that forms part of a line of verse in most Western traditions of poetry, including English accentual-syllabic verse and the quantitative meter of classical ancient Greek and Latin poetry. The unit is composed of syllables, the number of which is limited, with a few variations, by the sound pattern the foot represents. The most common feet in English are the iamb, trochee, dactyl, and anapest. Contrasting with stress-timed languages such as English, in syllable-timed languages such as French, a foot is a single syllable.

The lines of verse are classified according to the number of feet they contain, e.g. pentameter. However some lines of verse are not considered to be made up of feet, e.g. hendecasyllable.

The English word "foot" is a translation of the Latin term pes, plural pedes. The foot might be compared to a measure in musical notation.

The foot is a purely metrical unit; there is no inherent relation to a word or phrase as a unit of meaning or syntax, though the interplay between these is an aspect of the poet's skill and artistry.

A foot is the floor level termination of furniture legs. Legless furniture may be slightly raised off of the floor by their feet.

The foot is an anatomical structure found in many vertebrates.

Foot may also refer to:

• Foot (unit), a unit of length, now usually 0.3048 m or 12 inches
• Foot of a perpendicular, in geometry, a point where perpendicular lines intersect
• Foot, an alternate name for the fotmal, a unit of weight usually equal to 70 pounds
• Foot (surname)
• Foot (hieroglyph), an ancient Egyptian symbol
• Foot (prosody), meter in poetry
• Foot (sewing), part of a sewing machine
• Foot (sailing), the lower edge of a sail
• Infantry; see List of Regiments of Foot
• Foot Clan, a group of ninja in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series
• Foot (mollusc), part of the typical mollusc body plan along with the shell, viscera, and mantle
• Foot Lake, a lake in Minnesota
• Foot orienteering, the sport of orienteering

FOOT may also refer to:

• ICAO code for Tchibanga Airport
• The Faculty of Optics and Optometry of Terrassa, Polytechnic University of Catalonia
• Foothill Independent Bancorp (NASDAQ: FOOT), California bank acquired in 2005 by First National Bancorp, now PacWest Bancorp

Foot is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:

• Caroline Foot (born 1965), former British swimmer
• David Foot, Canadian economist
• Dingle Foot (1905–1978), British lawyer and politician
• Henry Foot (1805–1857), English-born Australian cricketer
• Hugh Foot, Baron Caradon (1907–1990), British colonial administrator and diplomat
• Isaac Foot (1880–1960), British politician and solicitor
• John Foot, Baron Foot (1909–1999), British Liberal Party politician
• John Foot (academic) (born 1964), British historian specialising in Italy
• Michael Foot (1913–2010), British politician and journalist, Labour Party leader (1980-83)
• M. R. D. Foot (1919-2012), British historian
• Paul Foot (1937–2004), British journalist
• Philippa Foot (1920–2010), British philosopher
• Robert Foot (1889–1973), director general of the BBC (1942–1944)
• Samuel A. Foot (1780–1846), U.S. representative and senator
• Sarah Foot (born 1961), British historian
• Solomon Foot (1802–1866), lawyer and senator from Vermont
• Victorine Foot (1920-2000), British painter