different between foul vs rank

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: foul, IPA^(key): /fa?l/
• Rhymes: -a?l
• Homophone: fowl
• Rhymes: -a??l

Etymology 1

From Middle English foul, from Old English f?l (“foul, unclean, impure, vile, corrupt, rotten, guilty”), from Proto-Germanic *f?laz (“foul, rotten”), from Proto-Indo-European *puH- (“to rot”). Cognate with Dutch vuil (“foul”), German faul (“rotten, putrid”), Danish and Swedish ful (“foul”), and through Indo-European, with Albanian fëlliq (“to make dirty”), Latin puter (“rotten”). More at putrid.

Ancient Greek ?????? (phaûlos, “bad”) is a false cognate inasmuch as it is not from the same etymon, instead being cognate to few.

Adjective

foul (comparative fouler, superlative foulest)

1. Covered with, or containing unclean matter; dirty.

2. (of words or a way of speaking) obscene, vulgar or abusive.

3. Detestable, unpleasant, loathsome.
   • c. 1610-11, William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act II scene ii^[1]:

     […] Hast thou forgot / The foul witch Sycorax, who with age and envy / Was grown into a hoop? Hast thou forgot her?
4. Disgusting, repulsive; causing disgust.

5. (obsolete) Ugly; homely; poor.
6. (of the weather) Unpleasant, stormy or rainy.
7. Dishonest or not conforming to the established rules and customs of a game, conflict, test, etc.

8. (nautical) Entangled and therefore restricting free movement, not clear.

9. (baseball) Outside of the base lines; in foul territory.

Usage notes

• Nouns to which "foul" is often applied: play, ball, language, breath, smell, odor, water, weather, deed.

Synonyms

• (hateful, detestable): shameful; odious; wretched

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English foulen, fulen, from Old English f?lian (“to become foul; rot; decay”), from Proto-Germanic *f?l?n? (“to rot; decay”).

Verb

foul (third-person singular simple present fouls, present participle fouling, simple past and past participle fouled)

1. (transitive) To make dirty.

   to foul the face or hands with mire

   She's fouled her diaper.

2. (transitive) To besmirch.

   He's fouled his reputation.

3. (transitive) To clog or obstruct.
4. (transitive, nautical) To entangle.
   • 1941, Emily Carr, Klee Wyck, Chapter 18, [2]

     The Indian's heart was sore for his boat; it looked as if nothing could save her. She was drifting more slowly now, her propeller fouled in kelp.

   The kelp has fouled the prop.

5. (transitive, basketball) To make contact with an opposing player in order to gain advantage.

   Smith fouled him hard.

6. (transitive, baseball) To hit outside of the baselines.

   Jones fouled the ball off the facing of the upper deck.

7. (intransitive) To become clogged.

   The drain fouled.

8. (intransitive) To become entangled.

   The prop fouled on the kelp.

9. (intransitive, basketball) To commit a foul.

   Smith fouled within the first minute of the quarter.

10. (intransitive, baseball) To hit a ball outside of the baselines.

    Jones fouled for strike one.

Derived terms

• foul one's own nest

Translations

Noun

foul (plural fouls)

1. (sports) A breach of the rules of a game, especially one involving inappropriate contact with an opposing player in order to gain an advantage; for example, tripping someone up in soccer, or contact of any kind in basketball.
2. (bowling) A (usually accidental) contact between a bowler and the lane before the bowler has released the ball.
3. (baseball) A foul ball, a ball which has been hit outside of the base lines.

   Jones hit a foul up over the screen.

Descendants

• ? Russian: ??? (fol)

Translations

See also

• foul fish

Further reading

• foul in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• foul in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• foul at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• fluo-

German

Verb

foul

1. singular imperative of foulen
2. (colloquial) first-person singular present of foulen

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old French fol.

Noun

foul

1. Alternative form of fole (“fool”)

Etymology 2

From Old English fugol.

Noun

foul

1. Alternative form of fowel

Translingual

Symbol

rank

1. (mathematics) The symbol for rank.

English

Alternative forms

• ranck (obsolete)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?æ?k/
• Rhymes: -æ?k

Etymology 1

From Middle English rank (“strong, proud”), from Old English ranc (“proud, haughty, arrogant, insolent, forward, overbearing, showy, ostentatious, splendid, bold, valiant, noble, brave, strong, full-grown, mature”), from Proto-West Germanic *rank, from Proto-Germanic *rankaz (“straight”), from Proto-Indo-European *h?re?- (“straight, direct”). Cognate with Dutch rank (“slender, slim”), Low German rank (“slender, projecting, lank”), Danish rank (“straight, erect, slender”), Swedish rank (“slender, shaky, wonky”), Icelandic rakkur (“straight, slender, bold, valiant”).

Adjective

rank (comparative ranker or more rank, superlative rankest or most rank)

1. Strong of its kind or in character; unmitigated; virulent; thorough; utter (used of negative things).
2. Strong in growth; growing with vigour or rapidity, hence, coarse or gross.

   • And, behold, seven ears of corn came up upon one stalk, rank and good.
3. Suffering from overgrowth or hypertrophy; plethoric.
4. Causing strong growth; producing luxuriantly; rich and fertile.
5. Strong to the senses; offensive; noisome.
6. Having a very strong and bad taste or odor.

   Synonyms: stinky, smelly, (UK) pong

   • 1661, Robert Boyle, The Sceptical Chymist

     Divers sea fowls taste rank of the fish on which they ordinarily feed.

7. Complete, used as an intensifier (usually negative, referring to incompetence).

   Synonyms: complete, utter
8. (informal) Gross, disgusting.
9. (obsolete) Strong; powerful; capable of acting or being used with great effect; energetic; vigorous; headstrong.
10. (obsolete) lustful; lascivious

Derived terms

• ranken
• rankful

Translations

Adverb

rank (comparative more rank, superlative most rank)

1. (obsolete) Quickly, eagerly, impetuously.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.iii:

     The seely man seeing him ryde so rancke, / And ayme at him, fell flat to ground for feare [...].

   • That rides so rank and bends his lance so fell.

Etymology 2

From Middle English rank (“line, row”), from Old French ranc, rang, reng (“line, row, rank”) (Modern French rang), from Frankish *hring (“ring”), from Proto-Germanic *hringaz (“something bent or curved”).

Akin to Old High German (h)ring, Old Frisian hring, Old English hring, hrincg (“ring”) (Modern English ring), Old Norse hringr (“ring, circle, queue, sword; ship”). More at ring.

Noun

rank (countable and uncountable, plural ranks)

1. A row of people or things organized in a grid pattern, often soldiers.

   Antonym: file

   The front rank kneeled to reload while the second rank fired over their heads.
2. (chess) One of the eight horizontal lines of squares on a chessboard (i.e., those identified by a number).

   Antonym: file

3. (music) In a pipe organ, a set of pipes of a certain quality for which each pipe corresponds to one key or pedal.
4. One's position in a list sorted by a shared property such as physical location, population, or quality.

   Based on your test scores, you have a rank of 23.

   The fancy hotel was of the first rank.

6. The level of one's position in a class-based society.
7. (typically in the plural) A category of people, such as those who share an occupation or belong to an organisation.

   a membership drawn from the ranks of wealthy European businessmen
9. A hierarchical level in an organization such as the military.

   Private First Class (PFC) is the second-lowest rank in the Marines.

   He rose up through the ranks of the company, from mailroom clerk to CEO.

10. (taxonomy) A level in a scientific taxonomy system.

    Phylum is the taxonomic rank below kingdom and above class.

11. (mathematics) The dimensionality of an array (computing) or tensor.
13. (linear algebra) The maximal number of linearly independent columns (or rows) of a matrix.
14. (algebra) The maximum quantity of D-linearly independent elements of a module (over an integral domain D).
15. (mathematics) The size of any basis of a given matroid.

Derived terms

• break rank
• cab off the rank
• cab rank
• cab-rank rule
• close ranks
• pull rank
• taxi rank

Translations

Verb

rank (third-person singular simple present ranks, present participle ranking, simple past and past participle ranked)

1. To place abreast, or in a line.
2. To have a ranking.

   Their defense ranked third in the league.

3. To assign a suitable place in a class or order; to classify.
   • 1725, Isaac Watts, Logick, or The Right Use of Reason in the Enquiry After Truth With a Variety of Rules to Guard

     Ranking all things under general and special heads.

   • 1726, William Broome, The Odyssey (by Homer)

     Poets were ranked in the class of philosophers.

   • 1667, Richard Allestree, The Causes of the Decay of Christian Piety

     Heresy [is] ranked with idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, murders, and other sins of the flesh.

4. (US) To take rank of; to outrank.

Derived terms

• misrank
• outrank

Translations

References

• rank at OneLook Dictionary Search
• rank in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• ARNK, Karn, karn, knar, kran, nark

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /r??k/
• Hyphenation: rank
• Rhymes: -??k

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch ranc, from Proto-Germanic *rankaz.

Adjective

rank (comparative ranker, superlative rankst)

1. slender, svelte

Inflection

Etymology 2

From Middle Dutch ranc, ranke, from Old Dutch *rank, from Frankish hranca.

Noun

rank f (plural ranken, diminutive rankje n)

1. tendril, a thin winding stem

Anagrams

• karn

References

German

Etymology

From Middle Low German rank, ranc, from Proto-Germanic *rankaz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?a?k/

Adjective

rank (comparative ranker, superlative am ranksten)

1. (poetic, dated, except in the phrase rank und schlank) lithe, lissome

Declension

Related terms

• rahn

Verb

rank

1. singular imperative of ranken

Further reading

• “rank” in Duden online