1815. Scott, Guy Mannering, ch. xlvi. ‘Are ye fou or fasting?’ ‘Fasting from all but sin.’
1857. J. E. Ritchie, Night Side of London, p. 166. The time admits of a man getting fou between the commencement and the close of the entertainment.
Foul, subs. (nautical and aquatic).—A running into; a running down.
Verb. (idem).—To run against; to run down. Also to come (or fall) foul of.
[Foul, adj. and verb. is used in two senses: (1) = dirty, as a foul word, a foul shrew (Dickens), to foul the bed, &c.; and (2) = unfair, as a foul (i.e., a felon) stroke, a foul blow, and so forth.]
1626. Captain John Smith, Accidence for Seamen, in wks. (Arber), p. 796. Boord and boord, or thwart the hawse, we are foule on each other.
1724. E. Coles, Eng. Dict. Foul, hindred or intangled with another ship’s ropes, etc.
1754. Connoisseur, No. 3. Which sailed very heavy, were often a-ground, and continually ran foul on each other.
1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, ch. xiii. Their coxswain … had to pull his left hand hard or they would have fouled the Oxfordshire corner.
1885 Illus. London News, March 28, p. 316, col. 1. In 1849 there were two races in the course of the year; Cambridge won the first, Oxford the second, on a foul (the only time the race has been so won).