Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In Scotland, the person who first enters a dwelling-house after the coming in of the year; also, the first person or object met on setting out on any important journey or undertaking.
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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Hopefully your first-foot was a dark and handsome stranger.
A Small Death in the Great Glen A. D. Scott 2010
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Northumberland -- is that the "first-foot" shall not be flat-footed: he should be a person with a high-arched instep, a foot that "water runs under."
Christmas in Ritual and Tradition, Christian and Pagan Clement A. Miles
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The "first-foot," on receiving his bread and cheese, is expected to return a short distance with the child, to show his good will.
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An unlucky "first-foot" brings misfortune with him or her, but a lucky "first-foot" introduces prosperity.
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It is more lucky to meet a man than a woman as a first-foot.
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The idea of the unluckiness of a woman's being the "first-foot" is extraordinarily widespread; the present writer has met with it in an ordinary London restaurant, where great stress was laid upon a man's opening the place on New Year's morning before the waitresses arrived.
Christmas in Ritual and Tradition, Christian and Pagan Clement A. Miles
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The "first-foot" superstition is found in countries as far apart as
Christmas in Ritual and Tradition, Christian and Pagan Clement A. Miles
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Aberdeenshire it is considered most important that the "first-foot" should not come empty-handed.
Christmas in Ritual and Tradition, Christian and Pagan Clement A. Miles
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We have already met with a "first-foot" in the _polaznik_ of the southern Slavs on Christmas Day.
Christmas in Ritual and Tradition, Christian and Pagan Clement A. Miles
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In Shropshire the most important principle is that if luck is to rest on a house the "first-foot" must not be a woman.
Christmas in Ritual and Tradition, Christian and Pagan Clement A. Miles
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