foothole

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to navigation Jump to search

English

[edit]

Alternative forms

[edit]

Etymology

[edit]

From foot +‎ hole, possibly influenced by foothold.

Pronunciation

[edit]

Noun

[edit]

foothole (plural footholes)

  1. (cricket) A hole in a cricket pitch made by the bowler's foot during the runup.
    • 2006, Mike Averis, The Guardian:
      The 24-year-old, who made three one-day appearances against Australia last summer, injured his ankle on Wednesday and further damaged it yesterday when he slipped in the footholes.
    • 2013, Peter Siddle, BBC Sport:
      "The wicket didn't play too bad today. Day five is going to be the biggest worry. The footholes will get bigger as the day goes on."
  2. (mining, climbing) A hole into which the foot can be wedged to aid in climbing; a foothold.
  3. (figurative) A foothold. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
  4. A deep footprint; a hole made by a foot.
    • 1945, Sara Katherine Casey Maynard, Scott and His Men, page 50:
      They floundered into deep footholes at every step.
    • 1952, Ben Maddow, Forty-four Gravel Street, page 99:
      Wherever there were tracks of children, sleds, large dogs, other couples, or a solitary walker with long, steady paces, these footholes had filled with a veneer of ice.
    • 1976, Christina Stead, Seven Poor Men of Sydney, page 300:
      The trees of the region were fearsomely marked with large footholes scratched by a giant feline animal, and once they saw at a distance a striped creature like a hyena with the markings of a tiger.
    • 2007, Owen Sheers, Resistance, page 119:
      With each step her leg sunk up to the knee. When she pulled her boots back out again she tinged her own footholes with red-brown mud, like the edging of blood around a punctured bandage.
    • 2012, Toni Shelbourne, The truth about wolves and dogs, page 20:
      Only two footholes are needed due to the wolf's narrow gait, as the hind foot oversteps the front paw print. (Courtesy Oliver Matla) .