foulsome

English

Etymology

A variant of fulsome, from Middle English fulsome (“arousing disgust, loathsome”), remodelled after foul. Equivalent to foul +‎ -some. Cognate with Scots foulsome, fowsum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfaʊlsəm/

Adjective

foulsome (comparative more foulsome, superlative most foulsome)

1. Characterised or marked by foulness or filth; filthy; (by extension) wretched.
   • 1983, Ben Bova, Gremlins Go Home:

     “Hah. And a good thing it is that you have. It's almost time for us to leave this foulsome planet, and we'll be needing all the help we can muster.” “It's not a foulsome planet!” Rita snapped.

   • 1998, A. Jesuraja, Glimpses of the Divine:

     Manure thus becomes a symbol of the alchemy effected by divine grace, which is capable of transforming something odious and foulsome into something beautiful and glorious, thus making us meritorious of heavenly reward: [...]

   • 2009, Diana Preston, A Pirate of Exquisite Mind:

     This made for an even more “foulsome, suffocating abode.” Men lay in swaying canvas hammocks, or packed side by side on the floor, scratching at omnipresent lice and breathing fetid air reeking of unwashed bodies and rank breath.

   • 2010, Paul Kockelman, Language, Culture, and Mind:

     In particular, speakers most elaborately characterized the interjection chix, which indexes foulsome things, the interjection uyaluy, which indexes dangerous things, and the interjection ay, when it indexes painful events.

   • 2011, Elizabeth Chadwick, Lady of the English:

     The lead seals confining the liquefying body of the former king were not secure and foulsome black ooze seeped from one edge.

Middle English

Noun

foulsome

1. Alternative form of fulsom