"fall foul" meaning in English

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "falls foul",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "falling foul",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "fell foul",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "fallen foul",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "fall<,,fell,fallen> foul"
      },
      "expansion": "fall foul (third-person singular simple present falls foul, present participle falling foul, simple past fell foul, past participle fallen foul)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "45 55",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To collide; to conflict with; to attack (+ on, of, upon)"
      ],
      "id": "en-fall_foul-en-verb-d~JmJ9nW",
      "links": [
        [
          "collide",
          "collide"
        ],
        [
          "attack",
          "attack"
        ],
        [
          "on",
          "on"
        ],
        [
          "of",
          "of"
        ],
        [
          "upon",
          "upon"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, archaic) To collide; to conflict with; to attack (+ on, of, upon)"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "archaic",
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "45 55",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2008, The Guardian, Media Monkey, 4 Aug 2008",
          "text": "Sky News fell foul of its own woolly reporting on Tuesday, when it reported \"human remains\" had been found on Saddleworth Moor. Ever keen to spin a good yarn, they immediately linked the story to moors murderers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley - only for the police to emerge seven hours later and announce that, after very careful inspection, they could confirm the carcass was not human …"
        },
        {
          "ref": "March 11 2022, David Hytner, “Chelsea are in crisis but there is no will to leave club on their knees”, in The Guardian",
          "text": "If Chelsea were to fall foul of profit and sustainability, they would be expected to cite unforeseen circumstances, much as some clubs have claimed Covid writedowns: their books would have been sound but for the pandemic.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2023 July 26, Christian Wolmar, “Closing ticket offices to lead to 'catch-22' for passengers”, in RAIL, number 988, page 42",
          "text": "Passengers may find themselves in a catch-22 situation, unable to buy a ticket for any number of reasons, ranging from an out-of-order ticket vending machine to a lengthy queue to use one, and yet then fall foul of the penalty fare regime.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To be defeated or thwarted (by); to suffer (+ of)"
      ],
      "id": "en-fall_foul-en-verb-NFaOazZ~",
      "links": [
        [
          "thwarted",
          "thwarted"
        ],
        [
          "suffer",
          "suffer"
        ],
        [
          "of",
          "of"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To be defeated or thwarted (by); to suffer (+ of)"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-fall foul.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/3/35/En-au-fall_foul.ogg/En-au-fall_foul.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/En-au-fall_foul.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "fall foul"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English terms with audio links",
    "English verbs"
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "falls foul",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "falling foul",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "fell foul",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "fallen foul",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "fall<,,fell,fallen> foul"
      },
      "expansion": "fall foul (third-person singular simple present falls foul, present participle falling foul, simple past fell foul, past participle fallen foul)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms",
        "English terms with archaic senses"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To collide; to conflict with; to attack (+ on, of, upon)"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "collide",
          "collide"
        ],
        [
          "attack",
          "attack"
        ],
        [
          "on",
          "on"
        ],
        [
          "of",
          "of"
        ],
        [
          "upon",
          "upon"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, archaic) To collide; to conflict with; to attack (+ on, of, upon)"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "archaic",
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2008, The Guardian, Media Monkey, 4 Aug 2008",
          "text": "Sky News fell foul of its own woolly reporting on Tuesday, when it reported \"human remains\" had been found on Saddleworth Moor. Ever keen to spin a good yarn, they immediately linked the story to moors murderers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley - only for the police to emerge seven hours later and announce that, after very careful inspection, they could confirm the carcass was not human …"
        },
        {
          "ref": "March 11 2022, David Hytner, “Chelsea are in crisis but there is no will to leave club on their knees”, in The Guardian",
          "text": "If Chelsea were to fall foul of profit and sustainability, they would be expected to cite unforeseen circumstances, much as some clubs have claimed Covid writedowns: their books would have been sound but for the pandemic.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2023 July 26, Christian Wolmar, “Closing ticket offices to lead to 'catch-22' for passengers”, in RAIL, number 988, page 42",
          "text": "Passengers may find themselves in a catch-22 situation, unable to buy a ticket for any number of reasons, ranging from an out-of-order ticket vending machine to a lengthy queue to use one, and yet then fall foul of the penalty fare regime.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To be defeated or thwarted (by); to suffer (+ of)"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "thwarted",
          "thwarted"
        ],
        [
          "suffer",
          "suffer"
        ],
        [
          "of",
          "of"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To be defeated or thwarted (by); to suffer (+ of)"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-fall foul.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/3/35/En-au-fall_foul.ogg/En-au-fall_foul.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/En-au-fall_foul.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "fall foul"
}