Foot is often used adjectively, signifying of or pertaining to a foot
or the feet, or to the base or lower part. It is also much used as the
first of compounds.
Foot artillery. (Mil.) (a) Artillery soldiers serving in foot. (b)
Heavy artillery. Farrow. -- Foot bank (Fort.), a raised way within a
parapet. -- Foot barracks (Mil.), barracks for infantery. -- Foot
bellows, a bellows worked by a treadle. Knight. -- Foot company (Mil.),
a company of infantry. Milton. -- Foot gear, covering for the feet, as
stocking, shoes, or boots. -- Foot hammer (Mach.), a small tilt hammer
moved by a treadle. -- Foot iron. (a) The step of a carriage. (b) A
fetter. -- Foot jaw. (Zoˆl.) See Maxilliped. -- Foot key (Mus.), an
organ pedal. -- Foot level (Gunnery), a form of level used in giving
any proposed angle of elevation to a piece of ordnance. Farrow. -- Foot
mantle, a long garment to protect the dress in riding; a riding skirt.
[Obs.] -- Foot page, an errand boy; an attendant. [Obs.] -- Foot
passenger, one who passes on foot, as over a road or bridge. -- Foot
pavement, a paved way for foot passengers; a footway; a trottoir. --
Foot poet, an inferior poet; a poetaster. [R.] Dryden. -- Foot post.
(a) A letter carrier who travels on foot. (b) A mail delivery by means
of such carriers. -- Fot pound, ∧ Foot poundal. (Mech.) See Foot
pound and Foot poundal, in the Vocabulary. -- Foot press (Mach.), a
cutting, embossing, or printing press, moved by a treadle. -- Foot
race, a race run by persons on foot. Cowper. -- Foot rail, a railroad
rail, with a wide flat flange on the lower side. -- Foot rot, an ulcer
in the feet of sheep; claw sickness. -- Foot rule, a rule or measure
twelve inches long. -- Foot screw, an adjusting screw which forms a
foot, and serves to give a machine or table a level standing on an
uneven place. -- Foot secretion. (Zoˆl.) See Sclerobase. -- Foot
soldier, a soldier who serves on foot. -- Foot stick (Printing), a
beveled piece of furniture placed against the foot of the page, to hold
the type in place. -- Foot stove, a small box, with an iron pan, to
hold hot coals for warming the feet. -- Foot tubercle. (Zoˆl.) See
Parapodium. -- Foot valve (Steam Engine), the valve that opens to the
air pump from the condenser. -- Foot vise, a kind of vise the jaws of
which are operated by a treadle. -- Foot waling (Naut.), the inside
planks or lining of a vessel over the floor timbers. Totten. -- Foot
wall (Mining), the under wall of an inclosed vein.
By foot, or On foot, by walking; as, to pass a stream on foot. -- Cubic
foot. See under Cubic. -- Foot and mouth disease, a contagious disease
(Eczema epizoˆtica) of cattle, sheep, swine, etc., characterized by the
formation of vesicles and ulcers in the mouth and about the hoofs. --
Foot of the fine (Law), the concluding portion of an acknowledgment in
court by which, formerly, the title of land was conveyed. See Fine of
land, under Fine, n.; also Chirograph. (b). -- Square foot. See under
Square. -- To be on foot, to be in motion, action, or process of
execution. -- To keep the foot (Script.), to preserve decorum. "Keep
thy foot when thou goest to the house of God." Eccl. v. 1. -- To put
one's foot down, to take a resolute stand; to be determined. [Colloq.]
-- To put the best foot foremost, to make a good appearance; to do
one's best. [Colloq.] -- To set on foot, to put in motion; to
originate; as, to set on foot a subscription. -- To put, or set, one on
his feet, to put one in a position to go on; to assist to start. --
Under foot. (a) Under the feet; (Fig.) at one's mercy; as, to trample
under foot. Gibbon. (b) Below par. [Obs.] "They would be forced to sell
. . . far under foot." Bacon.
Foot (?), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Footed; p. pr. & vb. n. Footing.] 1. To
tread to measure or music; to dance; to trip; to skip. Dryden.