foul up

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foul

(foul)

adj. foul·er, foul·est

a. Offensive to the senses; revolting: "a foul little creature with greedy eyes and slobbering mouth" (J.R.R. Tolkien).

b. Having a bad odor or taste: foul breath; food that tasted foul.

c. Rotten or putrid: foul meat.

a. Containing dirt, impurities, or other foreign matter; foul water.

b. Clogged or bestrewn with unwanted material: The bay is foul with old sunken vessels.

c. Overgrown or encrusted with weeds, barnacles, or other organisms. Used of a ship's bottom.

d. Entangled or enwrapped: a foul anchor.

a. Morally detestable; wicked: foul deeds.

b. Vulgar or obscene: foul language.

c. Violating accepted standards or rules; dishonorable: used foul means to gain power.

a. Very disagreeable or displeasing; horrid: a foul movie.

b. Inclement or unfavorable: in fair weather or foul.

c. Irritable or upset: in a foul mood.

a. Sports Contrary to the rules of a game or sport: a foul boxing punch.

b. Baseball Outside the foul lines: a foul fly ball.

6. Marked with editorial changes or corrections: foul copy.

7. Archaic Ugly; unattractive.

1. Abbr. F

a. Sports An infraction or a violation of the rules of play.

b. Baseball A foul ball.

2. An entanglement or a collision.

3. An instance of clogging or obstructing.

4. A foul copy of a document.

adv.

In a foul manner.

v. fouled, foul·ing, fouls

v.tr.

1. To make dirty or foul; pollute. See Synonyms at contaminate.

2. To bring into dishonor; besmirch.

3. To clog or obstruct.

4. To entangle or catch (a rope, for example).

5. To encrust (a ship's hull) with foreign matter, such as barnacles.

a. Sports To commit a foul against.

b. Baseball To hit (a ball) outside the foul lines.

v.intr.

1. To become foul.

a. Sports To commit a foul.

b. Baseball To hit a ball outside the foul lines: fouled twice and then struck out; fouled out to the catcher.

3. To become entangled or twisted: The anchor line fouled on a rock.

4. To become clogged or obstructed.

Phrasal Verbs:

foul out

Sports To be put out of a game for exceeding the number of permissible fouls.

foul up

To blunder or cause to blunder because of mistakes or poor judgment.

[Middle English, from Old English fūl; see pū̆- in Indo-European roots.]

foul′ly adv.

foul′ness n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

foul up

vb (adverb)

1. (tr) to bungle; mismanage

2. (tr) to make dirty; contaminate

3. to be or cause to be blocked, choked, or entangled

a state of confusion or muddle caused by bungling

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Verb

foul up - make a mess of, destroy or ruin; "I botched the dinner and we had to eat out"; "the pianist screwed up the difficult passage in the second movement"

bobble, bodge, bollix, bollix up, bollocks, bollocks up, botch, botch up, bumble, bungle, flub, fluff, fuck up, louse up, mess up, mishandle, muck up, ball up, spoil, muff, screw up, fumble, blow

go wrong, miscarry, fail - be unsuccessful; "Where do today's public schools fail?"; "The attempt to rescue the hostages failed miserably"

foul

adjective

1. Extremely unpleasant to the senses or feelings:

atrocious, disgusting, horrid, nasty, nauseating, offensive, repellent, repulsive, revolting, sickening, ugly, unwholesome, vile.

2. Having an unpleasant odor:

fetid, foul-smelling, malodorous, mephitic, noisome, reeky, stinking.

Informal: smelly.

3. Heavily soiled; very dirty or unclean:

filthy, nasty, squalid, vile.

4. Offensive to accepted standards of decency:

barnyard, bawdy, broad, coarse, dirty, Fescennine, filthy, gross, lewd, nasty, obscene, profane, ribald, scatologic, scatological, scurrilous, smutty, vulgar.

Slang: raunchy.

5. So objectionable as to elicit despisal or deserve condemnation:

abhorrent, abominable, antipathetic, contemptible, despicable, despisable, detestable, disgusting, filthy, infamous, loathsome, lousy, low, mean, nasty, nefarious, obnoxious, odious, repugnant, rotten, shabby, vile, wretched.

verb

1. To make physically impure:

contaminate, defile, poison, pollute.

2. To twist together so that separation is difficult:

ensnarl, entangle, snarl, tangle.

phrasal verb
foul up

To harm irreparably through inept handling; make a mess:

ball up, blunder, boggle, botch, bungle, fumble, gum up, mess up, mishandle, mismanage, muddle, muff, spoil.

Informal: bollix up, muck up.

Slang: blow, goof up, louse up, screw up, snafu.

Idiom: make a muck of.

Translations

w>foul up

vt sep (inf) → versauen (inf)

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

References in periodicals archive ?

Trying to be a bit too damned clever for your own good tends to be the root cause of these on-air foul ups.

Caught out for trying to be too clever

In Phillip Allen's painting Rich History of Foul Ups, 2008, an array of banana-like forms in yellow and black pops out from a washy blue-and-brown backdrop, partially framed by a system of straight lines that vaguely suggests a stack of wooden crates.

Phillip Allen: the Approach W1

Filled with intrigue, courtroom foul ups, and other mayhem, "The North Point Boys" takes a dark turn as Dave's odds of gaining retribution for his family look slim, and any chance of achieving happiness seems slimmer - but there is always hope.