foutra, footra, an expression of contempt; a foutra for, a fig for. 2 Hen. IV, v. 3. 103; Fletcher, Mons. Thomas, iv. 2 (Launcelot). For the origin, see NED.
fowe, fow, to clean out, cleanse; ‘I fowe a gonge’, Palsgrave. In prov. use in some parts of England for the more usual ‘fey’ or ‘fie’, see EDD. (s.v. Fay, vb.2). ME. fowyn, or make clean, ‘mundo, emundo’ (Prompt. EETS. 184, see note no. 833); Icel. fāga, to clean.
fowl, a bird; pronounced like fool, and quibbled upon. 3 Hen. VI, v. 6. 18-20.
fox, a kind of sword. Hen. V, iv. 4. 9; ‘A right [genuine] fox’, Two Angry Women, ii. 4 (Coomes). The wolf on some makes of sword-blade is supposed to have been mistaken for a fox.
foxed, drunk. (Cant.) Fletcher, Fair Maid of the Inn, ii. 3 (Clown); fox, to make drunk, Middleton, Span. Gipsy, iii. 1 (near the end); Pepys, Diary, Oct. 26, 1660.
fox-in-the-hole, a game in which boys hopped on one leg, and beat each other with pieces of leather (Boas). Kyd, Soliman and Persida, i. 3 (end); Herrick, The Country Life, 57.
foy, fidelity, homage. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 10. 41. F. foi, faith.
fraight, pp. fraught, loaded. Peele, Poems, ed. Dyce, p. 601, col. 1; Spenser, F. Q. i. 12. 35.
frail, a basket made of rushes. B. Jonson, Volpone, v. 2 (Peregrine); ‘A frail of figges’, Lyly, Mother Bombie, iv. 2 (Silena); ‘Cabas, a frail for raisins or figs’, Cotgrave; so Palsgrave. In common prov. use in various parts of England—the Midlands, E. Anglia, and south-west counties—for a soft flexible basket used by workmen and tradesmen (EDD.). ME. ffrayl of ffrute, ‘carica’ (Prompt.), fraiel (Wyclif, Jer. xxiv. 2); OF. frayel, ‘cabas à figues’ (La Curne). See Thomas, Phil. Fr. 366.
fraischeur, freshness, coolness. Dryden, Poem on the Coronation, 102. F. fraischeur (mod. fraîcheur), coolness (Cotgr.).