fox

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. Any of various carnivorous mammals of the genus Vulpes and related genera, related to the dogs and wolves and characteristically having upright ears, a pointed snout, and a long bushy tail.
2. n. The fur of one of these mammals.
3. n. A crafty, sly, or clever person.
4. n. Slang A sexually attractive person.
5. n. Nautical Small cordage made by twisting together two or more strands of tarred yarn.
6. n. Archaic A sword.
7. v. To trick or fool by ingenuity or cunning; outwit.
8. v. To baffle or confuse.
9. v. To make (beer) sour by fermenting.
10. v. To repair (a shoe) by attaching a new upper.
11. v. Obsolete To intoxicate.
12. v. To act slyly or craftily.
13. v. To turn sour in fermenting. Used of beer.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A carnivorous quadruped of the family Canidœ and of the vulpine or alope-coid series of canines, especially of the restricted genus Vulpes, as V. vulgaris of Europe. This animal is much smaller than the wolf, with a pointed muzzle, erect ears, elongated pupils of the eyes, long, straight, bushy tail tipped with white, and mostly reddish-yellow or fulvous pelage. It is proverbially cunning, burrows in the ground, preys on lambs, poultry, and other small animals, and is the principal object of the chase in some countries, as Great Britain. It is more fully known as the red fox, and runs into several varieties, as the crossfox, silver or silver-gray fox, black fox, etc. The common fox of North America is very similar to the red fox of Europe, being probably not speciflcally distinct. There are many other true foxes, or species of Vulpes proper, in different parts of the world, one of the most notable of which is the arctic fox or isatis, V. lagopus, which is of a dark color, and turns white in winter. (See cut of arctic fox, under arctic.) The corsak or adive (V. corsac) of Tatary and India is one of a group of small foxes, represented in North America by the kit or swift fox, V. velox. (See cut under corsak.) The gray fox of the United States is sufficiently different to have been placed in another genus, Urocyon (as U. cinereo-argentatus), to which the coast-fox of California (U.littoralis) also belongs. (The related animals of South America are thooid, not alopecoid, and are known as fox-wolves, of the genera Lycalopex and Pseudalopex.) The fennecs are small African foxes, closely allied to Vulpes proper, but commonly placed in a different genus, Fennecus. (See cut under fennec.) Resembling these externally, but structurally different, is the African fox, Megalotis or Otocyon lalandi, a generalized from representing a different subfamily Megalotinœ. The tail of the fox is called the brush. In the English Bible the word fox refers in some places to the jackal, in others to the fox. See reynard.
2. n. Hence A sly, cunning fellow.
3. n. The gemmous dragonet: chiefly applied to the females and young males. Also called foxfish. [Local, Eng.]
4. n. Nautical, a seizing made by twisting several rope-yarns together and rubbing them down.
5. To hunt the fox.
6. To employ crafty means; act with dissimulation.
7. To steal.
8. To become discolored: said of timber or of paper. See foxed, foxfire.
9. To turn sour: said of beer when it sours in fermenting.
10. To make sour, as beer in fermenting.
11. To intoxicate; fuddle; stupefy.
12. To become drunk.
13. To repair, as a shoe, by renewing the front upper-leather; also, to cover the upper of (a shoe) with a piece of ormnamental leather.
14. n. A sword.
15. n. A drain carried under another watercourse by means of a depressed culvert forming an inverted siphon. Commonly called a dip-culvert or a dive-culvert.
16. n. One of the northern constellations (Vulpecula), situated between the Constellations Of the Swan and the Dolphin.
17. n. A freshman in a German university.

Wiktionary

1. n. A red fox, small carnivore (Vulpes vulpes), related to dogs and wolves, with red or silver fur and a bushy tail.
2. n. Any of numerous species of small wild canids resembling the red fox. In the taxonomy they form the tribe Vulpini within the family Canidae, consisting of nine genera (see the Wikipedia article on the fox).
3. n. The fur of a fox or fox fur.
4. n. A fox terrier.
5. n. The gemmeous dragonet, a fish, Callionymus lyra, so called from its yellow color.
6. n. A cunning person.
7. n. slang An attractive man or woman.
8. n. nautical A small strand of rope made by twisting several rope-yarns together. Used for seizings, mats, sennits, and gaskets.
9. n. mechanics A wedge driven into the split end of a bolt to tighten it.
10. v. transitive To trick, fool or outwit (someone) by cunning or ingenuity.
11. v. transitive To confuse or baffle (someone).
12. v. intransitive To act slyly or craftily.
13. v. intransitive To discolour paper. Fox marks are spots on paper caused by humidity.
14. v. To turn sour; said of beer, etc., when it sours in fermenting.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Zoöl.) A carnivorous animal of the genus Vulpes, family Canidæ, of many species. The European fox (V. vulgaris or V. vulpes), the American red fox (V. fulvus), the American gray fox (V. Virginianus), and the arctic, white, or blue, fox (V. lagopus) are well-known species.
2. n. (Zoöl.) The European dragonet.
3. n. (Zoöl.) The fox shark or thrasher shark; -- called also sea fox. See Thrasher shark, under Shark.
4. n. colloq. A sly, cunning fellow.
5. n. (Naut.) Rope yarn twisted together, and rubbed with tar; -- used for seizings or mats.
6. n. obsolete A sword; -- so called from the stamp of a fox on the blade, or perhaps of a wolf taken for a fox.
7. n. (Ethnol.) A tribe of Indians which, with the Sacs, formerly occupied the region about Green Bay, Wisconsin; -- called also Outagamies.
8. v. To intoxicate; to stupefy with drink.
9. v. To make sour, as beer, by causing it to ferment.
10. v. To repair the feet of, as of boots, with new front upper leather, or to piece the upper fronts of.
11. v. To turn sour; -- said of beer, etc., when it sours in fermenting.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a member of an Algonquian people formerly living west of Lake Michigan along the Fox River
2. v. deceive somebody
3. n. English statesman who supported American independence and the French Revolution (1749-1806)
4. n. the grey or reddish-brown fur of a fox
5. n. a shifty deceptive person
6. n. English religious leader who founded the Society of Friends (1624-1691)
7. n. alert carnivorous mammal with pointed muzzle and ears and a bushy tail; most are predators that do not hunt in packs
8. v. be confusing or perplexing to; cause to be unable to think clearly
9. v. become discolored with, or as if with, mildew spots
10. n. the Algonquian language of the Fox