Search the Dictionary

the foot; place for the foot to rest on; firm foundation to stand on. In ascent, every stfooting and help to the next. Holder.

legs and two arms of a person. To be, go, or run, on all fours (Fig.), to be on the same footing; to correspond (with) exactly; to be alike in all the circumstances to be considered. "This example is on all fours with the other." "No simile can go on all fours." Macaulay.

er showing the balances of the open accounts of a business, the debit and credit balances footing up equally, if the system of accounts be complete and the balances correctly taken. -- Balance thermometer, a thermometer mounted as a balance so that the movement of the mercurial column changes the indication of the tub…

which have previously been mobilized or called into active service; the change from a war footing to a peace footing.

es, etc.; as, the equality of two bodies in length or thickness; an equality of rights. A footing of equality with nobles. Macaulay.

Recognized condition; rank; footing; -- used only in the singular. [R.] As to his being on the foot of a servant. Walpole.

or member of a wall, including the base course (see Base course (a), under Base, n.) and footing courses; in a frame house, the whole substructure of masonry.

school. (a) A school to which pupils are admitted without discrimination and on an equal footing. (b) A school supported by general taxation, by endowmants, etc., where pupils pay nothing for tuition; a public school. -- Free services (O.Eng. Law), such feudal services as were not unbecoming the character of a soldie…

oting or inducing giddiness; as, a giddy height; a giddy precipice. Prior. Upon the giddy footing of the hatches. Shak.

Giving no sure footing; smooth; slippery. [Prov. Eng.] Shingle, slates, and gliddery stones. R. D. Blackmore.

Even with anything else; of the same height; on the same line or plane; on the same footing; of equal importance; -- followed by with, sometimes by to. Young boys and girls Are level now with men; the odds is gone. Shak. Everything lies level to our wish. Shak.

To become held; to gain or have a firm footing; to be recognized or established; to subsist; to become prevalent or general; to prevail; as, the custom obtains of going to the seashore in summer. Sobriety hath by use obtained to signify temperance in drinking. Jer. Taylor. The Theodosian code, several hundred years aft…

An offset where a wall or bank of earth, etc., retreats, leaving a shelf or footing.

To slide; to lose one's footing or one's hold; not to tread firmly; as, it is necessary to walk carefully lest the foot should slip.

hen in danger of losing one's balance; hence, to make a false; to catch the foot; to lose footing; to stumble.

Tread; footing. [Written also troad.][Obs.] Spenser.