I. ˈfäks noun
( plural foxes or fox )
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English; akin to Old Low Franconian vus fox, Old High German fuhs fox, foha she-fox, Old Norse fōa fox, Gothic fauho fox, Sanskrit puccha tail
1. : any of various alert carnivorous mammals of the family Canidae related to the wolves but smaller, with shorter legs, more pointed muzzle, large erect ears, and long bushy tail and now placed in Vulpes and several other genera represented by one of more species in most parts of the world — see arctic fox , fennec , gray fox , silver fox ; compare color phase
2. : the fur of a fox
3. : a clever crafty man : a sly fellow
the foxes live by their wits and rely on fraud — J.H.Hallowell
4. archaic : sword
thou diest on the point of fox — Shakespeare
5. : a moderate yellowish brown that is stronger and slightly yellower and lighter than Bismarck brown and yellower and deeper than maple sugar — called also antique drab, Dresden brown
6. usually capitalized
a.
(1) : an Indian people near Lake Winnebago and in the Fox river valley of Wisconsin
(2) : a member of such people
b. : an Algonquian language of the Fox, Sauk, and Kickapoo peoples
7.
a. : two or more tarred rope yarns hand twisted by sailors to make small cordage used for lashings or for weaving mats — compare seizing
b. : a single rope yarn twisted up against its lay for similar use — called also Spanish fox
8. : a longitudinal bar to which the tool carriage of a fox lathe is fastened and which receives motion from gearing in the headstock
II. verb
( -ed/-ing/-es )
transitive verb
1.
a. : to trick by ingenuity or cunning : fool , outwit
we would fox him into withdrawing vitally needed strength — E.E.S.Montagu
b. : confuse , bewilder , baffle
some survivors … were completely foxed by the tragedy — Alan Villiers
2. obsolete : to make drunk : intoxicate
I drank … so much wine that I was even almost foxed — Samuel Pepys
3.
a. : to repair (a shoe) by renewing the upper
b. : to add a strip of something to ; specifically : to trim (a shoe) with a strip of leather
intransitive verb
: to act like a fox : dissemble
you never know — he may be foxing — Guthrie Wilson
III.
Usage: usually capitalized
— a communications code word for the letter f
IV. noun
1. slang : an attractive and stylish young woman
2. slang : an attractive young man