fox

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

The fox went out on a chase one night, / he prayed to the Moon to give him light, / for he had many a mile to go that night / before he reached the town-o, town-o, town-o. / He had many a mile to go that night / before he reached the town-o.

They burned the old gun that used to stand in the dark corner up in the garret, close to the stuffed fox that always grinned so fiercely. Perhaps the reason why he seemed in such a ghastly rage was that he did not come by his death fairly. Otherwise his pelt would not have been so perfect. And why else was he put away up there out of sight?—and so magnificent a brush as he had too.

1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], “The First Gun”, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC, page 1:

It was earliest morning, when even small trees cast long shadows and scarlet foxes trot denward through the dew like flecks of fire.

1987, Gene Wolfe, chapter XXVIII, in The Urth of the New Sun, 1st US edition, New York: Tor Books, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 164:

Vulpes vulpes
Vulpes vulpes#Translingual

A red fox, small carnivore (Vulpes vulpes), related to dogs and wolves, with red or silver fur and a bushy tail.

Any of numerous species of small wild canids resembling the red fox. In the taxonomy they form the tribe Vulpini within the family Canidae, consisting of nine genera.

The gemmeous dragonet, a fish, Callionymus lyra, so called from its yellow color.

As for thee, false friend, subtle fox, unfaithful servant, this long time am I grown weary of thee slinking up and down my palace devising darkly things I know not: thou, that art nought akin to Witchland, but an outlander, a Goblin exile, a serpent warmed in my bosom to my hurt.

1922, E[ric] R[ücker] Eddison, The Worm Ouroboros, London: Jonathan Cape, page 24:

And Jerry was cute, you know, I liked him, but Frank was a total fox. And he was rougher than Jerry, you know, not so cultured.

1993, Laura Antoniou, The Marketplace, page 90:

It wasn't just that Jayne was a fox – although, fuck, was she ever a fox. That arse, those tits, those lips. They could have a really good time together.

2012, Adele Parks, Still Thinking of You:

(slang, figurative) A physically attractive person, typically a woman.

(slang, figurative) A person with reddish brown hair, typically a woman.

(nautical) A small strand of rope made by twisting several rope-yarns together. Used for seizings, mats, sennits, and gaskets.

(mechanics) A wedge driven into the split end of a bolt to tighten it.

Locating a hidden transmitter (the fox) has been a popular ham activity for many years.

2006, H. Ward Silver, The ARRL Ham Radio License Manual:

A hidden radio transmitter, finding which is the goal of radiosport.

(cartomancy) The fourteenth Lenormand card.

Thou diest on point of fox.

1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iv]:

(obsolete) A sword; so called from the stamp of a fox on the blade, or perhaps of a wolf taken for a fox.

Got a lock! Fox, Fox!

2007 September 25, Bungie, Halo 3, Microsoft Game Studios, Xbox 360, level/area: The Ark:

Defense Technical Information Center
w:Defense Technical Information Center

(military, aviation) Air-to-air weapon launched.

Austin was patiently and painstakingly concerned with truth within limitations. He was a hedgehog, not a fox.

Dewey was a hedgehog rather than a fox; he spent his life trying to articulate and restate a single vision, and in the writings of his third decade he already exhibits the tension I have claimed to find in the later writings.

1992, J. E. Tiles, Jim E. Tiles, John Dewey, Psychology Press, →ISBN, page 220:

(chiefly philosophy) Someone who fuses many different influences and concepts in their philosophy or worldview.

en-noun

fox (plural foxes or (nonstandard, dialectal) foxen)

foxes (plural)
foxen (dialectal nonstandard plural)

the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog

→ Cheyenne: vóhkéso

→ Japanese: フォックス (fokkusu)

→ Maori: pōkiha

coyote · dog · fox · jackal · wolf [edit]

Isaiah Berlin
The Hedgehog and the Fox
en:fox

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *púḱsos
Proto-Germanic *fuhsaz
Old English fox
Middle English fox
English fox
From Middle English fox, from Old English fox (“fox”), from Proto-West Germanic *fuhs, from Proto-Germanic *fuhsaz (“fox”), from Proto-Indo-European *púḱsos (“the tailed one”), possibly from *puḱ- (“tail”).
Cognate with Scots fox (“fox”), North Frisian foos, fos (“fox”), Saterland Frisian Foaks (“fox”), West Frisian foks (“fox”), Dutch vos (“fox”), Low German vos (“fox”), German Fuchs (“fox”), Icelandic fóa (“fox”), Tocharian B päkā (“tail, chowrie”), Russian пух (pux, “down, fluff”), Sanskrit पुच्छ (púccha) (whence Torwali پوش (pūš, “fox”), Hindi पूंछ (pūñch, “tail”)).
In the philosophical sense, from the 1953 essay The Hedgehog and the Fox by Isaiah Berlin.


fox

(transitive) To trick, fool or outwit (someone) by cunning or ingenuity.

This crossword puzzle has completely foxed me.

(transitive) To confuse or baffle (someone).

(intransitive) To act slyly or craftily.

Have you any news of Miriam? As I have had no reply to my delicately worded epistle, I can only presume that you foxed me with the wrong address, and that you are yourself already engaged to be married to her.

Quoted in 2000, John Lewes, Jock Lewes: Co-founder of the SAS (page 132)

The pages of the book show distinct foxing.

(intransitive) To discolour paper. Fox marks are spots on paper caused by humidity. (See foxing.)

(transitive) To make sour, as beer, by causing it to ferment.

(intransitive) To turn sour; said of beer, etc., when it sours in fermenting.

I drank […] so much wine that I was almost foxed.

1661 October 9 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Samuel Pepys, Mynors Bright, transcriber, “September 29th, 1661 (Lord’s Day)”, in Henry B[enjamin] Wheatley, editor, The Diary of Samuel Pepys […], volume II, London: George Bell & Sons […]; Cambridge: Deighton Bell & Co., published 1893, →OCLC:

(transitive) To intoxicate; to stupefy with drink.

(transitive) To repair (boots) with new front upper leather, or to piece the upper fronts of.

en-verb

fox (third-person singular simple present foxes, present participle foxing, simple past and past participle foxed)

foxes (present singular third-person)
foxing (participle present)
foxed (participle past)
foxed (past)