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5. Fundamental principle; basis; plan; — used only in the singular.
Answer directly upon the foot of dry reason. Berkeley. 6. Recognized condition; rank; footing; — used only in the singular. [R.]
As to his being on the foot of a servant. Walpole. 7. A measure of length equivalent to twelve inches; one third of a yard. See Yard.
This measure is supposed to be taken from the length of a man's foot. It differs in length in different
countries. In the United States and in England it is 304.8 millimeters.
8. (Mil.) Soldiers who march and fight on foot; the infantry, usually designated as the foot, in distinction
from the cavalry. "Both horse and foot." Milton.
9. (Pros.) A combination of syllables consisting a metrical element of a verse, the syllables being formerly
distinguished by their quantity or length, but in modern poetry by the accent.
10. (Naut.) The lower edge of a sail.
Foot is often used adjectively, signifying of or pertaining to a foot or the feet, or to the base or lower
part. It is also much used as the first of compounds.
Foot artillery. (Mil.) (a) Artillery soldiers serving in foot. (b) Heavy artillery. Farrow. — Foot bank
(Fort.), a raised way within a parapet. — Foot barracks (Mil.), barracks for infantery. — Foot bellows,
a bellows worked by a treadle. Knight. — Foot company (Mil.), a company of infantry. Milton. —
Foot gear, covering for the feet, as stocking, shoes, or boots. — Foot hammer (Mach.), a small tilt
hammer moved by a treadle. — Foot iron. (a) The step of a carriage. (b) A fetter. — Foot jaw.
(Zoöl.) See Maxilliped. — Foot key (Mus.), an organ pedal. — Foot level (Gunnery), a form of
level used in giving any proposed angle of elevation to a piece of ordnance. Farrow. — Foot mantle,
a long garment to protect the dress in riding; a riding skirt. [Obs.] — Foot page, an errand boy; an
attendant. [Obs.] — Foot passenger, one who passes on foot, as over a road or bridge. — Foot
pavement, a paved way for foot passengers; a footway; a trottoir. — Foot poet, an inferior poet; a poetaster.
[R.] Dryden. — Foot post. (a) A letter carrier who travels on foot. (b) A mail delivery by means of
such carriers. — Fot pound, &and Foot poundal. (Mech.) See Foot pound and Foot poundal, in
the Vocabulary. — Foot press (Mach.), a cutting, embossing, or printing press, moved by a treadle.
— Foot race, a race run by persons on foot. Cowper. — Foot rail, a railroad rail, with a wide flat
flange on the lower side. — Foot rot, an ulcer in the feet of sheep; claw sickness. — Foot rule, a
rule or measure twelve inches long. — Foot screw, an adjusting screw which forms a foot, and serves
to give a machine or table a level standing on an uneven place. — Foot secretion. (Zoöl.) See Sclerobase.
— Foot soldier, a soldier who serves on foot. — Foot stick (Printing), a beveled piece of furniture
placed against the foot of the page, to hold the type in place. — Foot stove, a small box, with an
iron pan, to hold hot coals for warming the feet. — Foot tubercle. (Zoöl.) See Parapodium. — Foot
valve (Steam Engine), the valve that opens to the air pump from the condenser. — Foot vise, a kind
of vise the jaws of which are operated by a treadle. — Foot waling (Naut.), the inside planks or lining
of a vessel over the floor timbers. Totten. — Foot wall (Mining), the under wall of an inclosed vein.
By foot, or On foot, by walking; as, to pass a stream on foot. — Cubic foot. See under Cubic.
— Foot and mouth disease, a contagious disease (Eczema epizoötica) of cattle, sheep, swine, etc.,
characterized by the formation of vesicles and ulcers in the mouth and about the hoofs. — Foot of the
fine (Law), the concluding portion of an acknowledgment in court by which, formerly, the title of land
was conveyed. See Fine of land, under Fine, n.; also Chirograph. — Square foot. See under
Square. — To be on foot, to be in motion, action, or process of execution. — To keep the foot
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