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 1878. Fraser's Mag., Oct., p. 449, They are more suited to plodding, fossicking, persevering industry, than for hard work.

1887. Sala, in Ill. Lond. News, 12 Mar., p. 282, col. 2. 'To fossick' in the old digging days was to get a living by extracting gold from the refuse wash-dirt which previous diggers had abandoned as worthless.

1890. Illustrations, Jan., p. 158. After some 'fossiking' we discover three or four huts within 'cooee,' all diggers, all 'hatters,' and mostly good fellows.

Fou, or Fow, adj. (old English and Scots' colloquial).—Drunk; variants are bitch-fou; greetin'-fou; piper-fou; roaring-fou; fou as barty (Burns); pissing-fou; and so forth. For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed. Also (Scots') = full of food or drink, as in quot. under date 1815.

1697. Vanbrugh, Provoked Wife, III., ii. (quoted in). Then sit ye awhile, and tipple a bit, For we's not very fou, but we're gayly yet.

1787. Burns, Death and Dr. Hornbook, st. 3. I was na fou, but just had plenty.

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).

1889. Licensed Victuallers' Gaz., 18 Jan. Dick was done out of the stakes on an appeal of foul.

To foul A plate with, verbal phr. (old, colloquial).—To dine or sup with.—Grose.

Foulcher, subs. (thieves').—A purse.

1877. Five Years' Penal Servitude, ch. iii., p. 243. 'A foulcher, with flimsies and couters for a score of quid in it.'

Foul-mouthed, adj. (colloquial).—Obscene or blasphemous in speech.

Found in a Parsley-bed. See Parsley-bed and Gooseberry-bush.

Fountain of Love, subs. phr. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Four-and-nine (or Four-and-ninepenny), subs. phr. (old).—A hat. [So-called from the price at which an enterprising Bread Street hatter sold his hats, circa 1844, at which date London was hideous with posters displaying a large black hat and '4s. and 9d.' in white letters.]

1844. Advertisement Couplet. When-*e'er to slumber you incline, Take a short nap at four-and-nine.