To set a fox to keep one’s geese, phr. (common).—To entrust one’s
money, or one’s circumstances, to the care of sharpers. Latin, Ovem
lupo commisisti.
To make a fox paw, verb. phr. (common).—To make a mistake or a wrong
move; specifically (of women) to be seduced. [A corruption of the Fr.
faux pas.]
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue.
Fox’s Sleep, subs. phr. (common).—A state of feigned yet very vigilant
indifference to one’s surroundings. [Foxes were supposed to sleep with
one eye open.]
1830. Sir J. Barrington, Personal Sketches, Vol. III., p. 171 (ed.
1832). Mr. Fitzgerald, he supposed, was in a fox’s sleep, and his
bravo in another, who, instead of receding at all, on the contrary
squeezed the attorney closer and closer.
Foxy, adj. (colloquial).—1. Red-haired; cf., carrotty.
1828. G. Griffin, Collegians, ch. ii. Dunat O’Leary, the
hair-cutter, or Foxy Dunat, as he was named in allusion to his red
head.
2. (colloquial).—Cunning; vulpine in character and look. Once literary.
Jonson (1605) calls his arch-foist volpone, the second title of his
play being ‘The Fox;’ and Florio (1598) defines Volpone as ‘an old fox,
an old reinard, an old, crafty, sly, subtle companion, sneaking,
lurking, wilie deceiver.’
d. 1536. Tyndale, Workes, p. 148. Oh, foxy Pharisay, that is thy
leuen, of which Christ so diligently bad vs beware.
1849. Dickens, David Copperfield, ch. xlix., p. 429. Whatever his
state of health may be his appearance is foxy, not to say
diabolical.
3. (American cobblers’).—Repaired with new toe-caps. See fox, verb,
sense 8.
1877. M. Twain, Life on the Mississippi, ch. lvii., p. 503. It was
the scarecrow Dean—in foxy shoes, down at the heels; socks of odd
colours, also ‘down.’
4. (booksellers’).—A term applied to prints and books discoloured by
damp; see Fox, verb, sense 6.