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fox

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Fox

Translingual

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Symbol

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fox

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

English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia
A red fox.

Etymology

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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”)).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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

  2. 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.
    • 15th 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, 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.
    • 1987, Gene Wolfe, chapter XXVIII, in The Urth of the New Sun, 1st US edition, New York: Tor Books, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 164:
      It was earliest morning, when even small trees cast long shadows and scarlet foxes trot denward through the dew like flecks of fire.
  3. 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).
  4. The fur of a fox.
  5. A fox terrier.
  6. The gemmeous dragonet, a fish, Callionymus lyra, so called from its yellow color.
  7. (figurative) A cunning person.
    • 1922, E[ric] R[ücker] Eddison, The Worm Ouroboros‎[2], London: Jonathan Cape, page 24:
      As for thee, false friend, subtle fox, unfaithful servant, this long time am I grown weary of thee slinking up and down my palace devising darkly things I know not: thou, that art nought akin to Witchland, but an outlander, a Goblin exile, a serpent warmed in my bosom to my hurt.
  9. (slang, figurative) A physically attractive man or woman.
    • 1993, Laura Antoniou, The Marketplace, page 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.
  10. (slang, figurative) A person with reddish brown hair, usually a woman.
  11. (nautical) A small strand of rope made by twisting several rope-yarns together. Used for seizings, mats, sennits, and gaskets.
  12. (mechanics) A wedge driven into the split end of a bolt to tighten it.
  13. 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.
  14. (cartomancy) The fourteenth Lenormand card.
  15. (obsolete) A sword; so called from the stamp of a fox on the blade, or perhaps of a wolf taken for a fox.
  16. (military, aviation) Air-to-air weapon launched.[1]

Synonyms

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Hypernyms

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Hyponyms

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Derived terms

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phrases

Descendants

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

Translations

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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

See also

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References

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  1. ^ “BREVITY Multiservice Brevity Codes”, in discover.dtic.mil‎[1], Defense Technical Information Center, 2002 February 1, archived from the original on 17 November 2015

Verb

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

Derived terms

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Translations

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Further reading

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Anagrams

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Latin

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Etymology

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Early monophthongized variant of faux.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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fōx f (genitive fōcis); third declension

  1. Alternative form of faux (“throat, gorge”)

Inflection

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Third-declension noun (i-stem).

singular plural
nominative fōx fōcēs
genitive fōcis fōcium
dative fōcī fōcibus
accusative fōcem fōcēs
fōcīs
ablative fōce fōcibus
vocative fōx fōcēs

Derived terms

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Descendants

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References

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Middle English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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Noun

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fox (plural foxes or fox)

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

Descendants

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References

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Old English

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Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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Noun

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fox m

  1. fox
    • late 10th century, Ælfric, Lives of Saints, quoting Matthew 8:20
      Foxas habbaþ holu and fugelas habbaþ nest, and iċ næbbe wununge hwider iċ mīn heafod ahyldan mæġe.
      Foxes have holes and birds have nests, but I have no dwelling where I can rest my head.

Declension

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Strong a-stem:

singular plural
nominative fox foxas
accusative fox foxas
genitive foxes foxa
dative foxe foxum

Derived terms

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Descendants

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Old French

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Alternative forms

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Adjective

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fox

  1. nominative and oblique masculine singular of fol

Romanian

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Etymology

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Borrowed from French fox.

Noun

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fox m (plural focși)

  1. fox terrier

Declension

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singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative-accusative fox foxul focși focșii
genitive-dative fox foxului focși focșilor
vocative foxule focșilor
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