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afoul

adv
/əˈfaʊl/

Etymology

From a- + foul.

  1. derived from *puH-✻ — “foul, rotten”
  2. inherited from *fūlaz✻ — “foul, rotten”
  3. inherited from *fūl✻
  4. inherited from fūl — “foul, dirty, unclean, impure, vile, corrupt, rotten, stinking, guilty”
  5. inherited from ffoul
  6. prefixed as afoul — “a- + foul”

Definitions

  1. In a state of collision or entanglement.

    • The ships’ lines and sails were all afoul.
    • After paying out chain, we swung clear, but our anchors were no doubt afoul of hers.

  2. In a state of entanglement or conflict (with).

    • He had a knack for running afoul of the law.
    • What the devil’s the matter with me? I don’t stand right on my legs. Coming afoul of that old man has a sort of turned me wrong side out.
    • A hemispheric axiom has it that when a dictator falls afoul of Washington, his opponents are emboldened to try to topple him.

The neighborhood

Derived

run afoul, run afoul of

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for afoul. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA