• enPR: fo͝ot, IPA: /fʊt/, [fʊt]
  • (GA) IPA: [fʊt̚]
  • (America)
  • (British) IPA: [fʊt̚], [fʊtʰ], [fɵʔt]
  • (British)
  • (Canada) IPA: [fʊt̚], [fʷʊt̚]

foot (plural feet)

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.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), imprinted at London: By Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981 ↗, Rev 1:17 ↗:

     And when I ſawe him, I fell at his feete as dead : and hee laid his right hand vpon me, ſaying vnto mee, Feare not, *I am the firſt,and the laſt.

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.

   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.

    • His forces, after all the high discourses, amounted really but to eighteen hundred foot.

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.
    • 1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, New York, N.Y.: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, page 4:

      (b) sporophyte with foot reduced, the entire sporophyte enveloped by the calyptra, which is ± stipitate at the base.

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.

24. Recognized condition; rank; footing.

    • As to his being on the foot of a servant.

• French: patte, pied
• German: Pfote
• Italian: zampa
• Portuguese: pata
• Russian: нога́
• Spanish: pata

• French: pied
• German: Fuß, Fuss (Switzerland)
• Italian: piede
• Portuguese: pé
• Russian: нога́
• Spanish: pie, pinrel (slang), queso (slang)

• French: pied
• German: Fuß
• Italian: fondo, pié pagina
• Portuguese: pé
• Russian: низ
• Spanish: pie

• French: pied
• Portuguese: pé

• French: pied
• German: Fuß
• Italian: piede
• Portuguese: pé
• Russian: фут
• Spanish: pie

foot (foots, present participle footing; past and past participle footed)

1. (transitive) To use the foot to kick (usually a ball).
2. (transitive) To pay (a bill).
3. To tread to measure or music; to dance; to trip; to skip.
4. To walk.
5. To tread.

   to foot the green

6. (obsolete) To set on foot; to establish; to land.
   • c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act III, scene vii]:

     What confederacy have you with the traitors / Late footed in the kingdom?

7. To renew the foot of (a stocking, etc.).
8. To sum up, as the numbers in a column; sometimes with up.

   to foot (or foot up) an account

• French: donner un coup de pied
• Portuguese: chutar
• Russian: пинать

• French: payer
• German: bezahlen
• Italian: pagare
• Portuguese: pagar

1. Surname

   Michael Foot (1913–2010) was a British politician.