foot

Etymology

From Middle English fot, fote, foot, from Old English fōt, from Proto-West Germanic *fōt, from Proto-Germanic *fōts, from Proto-Indo-European *pṓds. Doublet of pes and pous.

noun

1. 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.
   A spider has eight feet.
2. (anatomy) Specifically, a human foot, which is found below the ankle and is used for standing and walking.
   Southern Italy is shaped like a foot.
3. (often used attributively) Travel by walking.
   We went there by foot because we could not afford a taxi.
   There is a lot of foot traffic on this street.
4. The base or bottom of anything.
   I'll meet you at the foot of the stairs.
5. The part of a flat surface on which the feet customarily rest.
   We came and stood at the foot of the bed.
6. The end of a rectangular table opposite the head.
   The host should sit at the foot of the table.
7. A short foot-like projection on the bottom of an object to support it.
   The feet of the stove hold it a safe distance above the floor.
8. A unit of measure equal to twelve inches or one third of a yard, equal to exactly 30.48 centimetres.
   ‘No. I only opened the door a foot and put my head in. The street lamps shine into that room. I could see him. He was all right. Sleeping like a great grampus. Poor, poor chap.’ 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 20, in The China Governess
   The flag pole at the local high school is about 20 feet high.
9. (music) A unit of measure for organ pipes equal to the wavelength of two octaves above middle C, approximately 328 mm.
10. (collective, military) Foot soldiers; infantry.
    King John went to battle with ten thousand foot and one thousand horse.
11. (cigars) The end of a cigar which is lit, and usually cut before lighting.
12. (sewing) The part of a sewing machine which presses downward on the fabric, and may also serve to move it forward.
13. (printing) The bottommost part of a typed or printed page.
14. (printing) The base of a piece of type, forming the sides of the groove.
15. (prosody) The basic measure of rhythm in a poem.
16. (phonology) The parsing of syllables into prosodic constituents, which are used to determine the placement of stress in languages along with the notions of constituent heads.
17. (nautical) The bottom edge of a sail.
    To make the mainsail fuller in shape, the outhaul is eased to reduce the tension on the foot of the sail.
18. (billiards) The end of a billiard or pool table behind the foot point where the balls are racked.
19. (botany) In a bryophyte, that portion of a sporophyte which remains embedded within and attached to the parent gametophyte plant.
20. (malacology) The muscular part of a bivalve mollusc or a gastropod by which it moves or holds its position on a surface.
21. (molecular biology) The globular lower domain of a protein.
22. (geometry) The point of intersection of one line with another that is perpendicular to it.
23. Fundamental principle; basis; plan.
    Answer directly upon the foot of dry reason. 1732, George Berkeley, Alciphron, or the Minute Philosopher
24. Recognized condition; rank; footing.
    May 20, 1742, Horace Walpole, letter to Horace Mann As to his being on the foot of a servant.

verb

1. (transitive) To use the foot to kick (usually a ball).
2. (transitive) To pay (a bill).
3. To tread to measure of music; to dance; to trip; to skip.
   There's time enough, I hope, To foot a measure with the bonnie bride, 1836, Joanna Baillie, The Phantom, Act 1 (Dramas 2, p.217)
4. To walk.
5. (now rare) To set foot on; to walk on.
   […] Or shepherd-boy, they featly foot the green 1722, Thomas Tickell, Kensington Gardens
   People who would not have dared to foot the place before crept in and did not come to the house. 1937, Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Amistad, published 2013, page 84
6. (obsolete) To set on foot; to establish; to land.
7. To renew the foot of (a stocking, etc.).
   I'll sew nether stocks and mend them and foot them too 19th century, William Shakespeare, Henry the Fourth Part 1 (modern edited version)
8. To sum up, as the numbers in a column; sometimes with up.
   to foot (or foot up) an account