fox

fox

1. (international standards) ISO 639-5 language code for Formosan languages.

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”), West Frisian foks (“fox”), Fering-Öömrang North Frisian foos and Sölring and Heligoland fos, 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”)).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /fɒks/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /fɑks/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒks

fox (plural foxes or (nonstandard, dialectal) foxen)

1. A red fox, small carnivore (Vulpes vulpes), related to dogs and wolves, with red or silver fur and a bushy tail.

   The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

   • 15^th century, The Fox, verse 1:

     The fox went out on a chase one night, / he prayed to the Moon to give him light, / for he had many a mile to go that night / before he reached the town-o, town-o, town-o. / He had many a mile to go that night / before he reached the town-o.

   • 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], “The First Gun”, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], OCLC 752825175, page 1:

     They burned the old gun that used to stand in the dark corner up in the garret, close to the stuffed fox that always grinned so fiercely. Perhaps the reason why he seemed in such a ghastly rage was that he did not come by his death fairly. Otherwise his pelt would not have been so perfect. And why else was he put away up there out of sight?—and so magnificent a brush as he had too.

2. Any of numerous species of small wild canids resembling the red fox. In the taxonomy they form the tribe Vulpini within the family Canidae, consisting of nine genera (see the Wikipedia article on the fox).
3. The fur of a fox.
4. A fox terrier.
5. The gemmeous dragonet, a fish, Callionymus lyra, so called from its yellow color.
6. (slang, figurative) A cunning person.
7. (slang, figurative) A physically attractive man or woman.
   • 1993, Laura Antoniou, The Marketplace, p.90:

     And Jerry was cute, you know, I liked him, but Frank was a total fox. And he was rougher than Jerry, you know, not so cultured.

   • 2012, Adele Parks, Still Thinking of You:

     It wasn't just that Jayne was a fox – although, fuck, was she ever a fox. That arse, those tits, those lips. They could have a really good time together.

8. (slang, figurative) A person with reddish brown hair, usually a woman.
9. (nautical) A small strand of rope made by twisting several rope-yarns together. Used for seizings, mats, sennits, and gaskets.
10. (mechanics) A wedge driven into the split end of a bolt to tighten it.
11. A hidden radio transmitter, finding which is the goal of radiosport.
    • 2006, H. Ward Silver, The ARRL Ham Radio License Manual

      Locating a hidden transmitter (the fox) has been a popular ham activity for many years.

12. (cartomancy) The fourteenth Lenormand card.
13. (obsolete) A sword; so called from the stamp of a fox on the blade, or perhaps of a wolf taken for a fox.
    • 1599, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act IV, scene iv]:

      Thou diest on point of fox.

14. (military, aviation) Air-to-air weapon launched.

• (a mammal related to dogs and wolves): tod
• (attractive man or woman): see also Thesaurus:beautiful woman

• canid

• vixen (feminine form), kit (young)

• → Cheyenne: vóhkéso
• → Japanese: フォックス (fokkusu)
• → Maori: pōkiha

• 🦊
• (canids) canid; coyote, dog, fox, jackal, wolf ^{(Category: en:Canids)}
• Reynard
• kitsune
• cub

• Fox in the 1921 edition of Collier's Encyclopedia.

fox (third-person singular simple present foxes, present participle foxing, simple past and past participle foxed)

1. (transitive) To trick, fool or outwit (someone) by cunning or ingenuity.
2. (transitive) To confuse or baffle (someone).

   This crossword puzzle has completely foxed me.

3. (intransitive) To act slyly or craftily.
4. (intransitive) To discolour paper. Fox marks are spots on paper caused by humidity. (See foxing.)

   The pages of the book show distinct foxing.

5. (transitive) To make sour, as beer, by causing it to ferment.
6. (intransitive) To turn sour; said of beer, etc., when it sours in fermenting.
7. (transitive) To intoxicate; to stupefy with drink.
   • 1661 October 9 (date written; Gregorian calendar)​, Samuel Pepys; Mynors Bright, transcriber, “September 29th, 1661 (Lord’s Day)”, in Henry B[enjamin] Wheatley, editor, The Diary of Samuel Pepys […], volume II, London: George Bell & Sons […]; Cambridge: Deighton Bell & Co., published 1893, OCLC 1016700617:

     I drank […] so much wine that I was almost foxed.

8. (transitive) To repair (boots) with new front upper leather, or to piece the upper fronts of.

• outfox

• Oxf.

• vox, wox

From Old English fox, from Proto-West Germanic *fuhs, from Proto-Germanic *fuhsaz.

• IPA^(key): /fɔks/
• Rhymes: -ɔks

fox (plural foxes or fox)

1. A fox or its fur.
2. A liar or schemer.

• English: fox
• Scots: fox
• Yola: voxe, vox

• “fox, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

From Proto-Germanic *fuhsaz. Cognate with Old Frisian *foks, Old Saxon fohs, Old Dutch fus, Old High German fuhs.

• IPA^(key): /foks/

fox m

1. fox

• foxhol
• fyxen

• Middle English: fox, vox, wox
  • English: fox
  • Scots: fox
  • Yola: voxe, vox

• fols, fous

fox

1. nominative and oblique masculine singular of fol

From French fox.

fox m (plural focși)

1. fox terrier