Careful Words

foot (n.)

foot (v.)

foot (adv.)

foot (adj.)

Back and side go bare, go bare,

Both foot and hand go cold;

But, belly, God send thee good ale enough,

Whether it be new or old.

Bishop Still (John) (1543-1607): Gammer Gurton's Needle. Act ii.

Make haste; the better foot before.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): King John. Act iv. Sc. 2.

  Equity is a roguish thing. For Law we have a measure, know what to trust to; Equity is according to the conscience of him that is Chancellor, and as that is larger or narrower, so is Equity. 'T is all one as if they should make the standard for the measure we call a "foot" a Chancellor's foot; what an uncertain measure would this be! One Chancellor has a long foot, another a short foot, a third an indifferent foot. 'T is the same thing in the Chancellor's conscience.

John Selden (1584-1654): Table Talk. Equity.

  Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

Old Testament: Deuteronomy xix. 21.

  "I will show," said Agesilaus, "that it is not the places that grace men, but men the places."

Plutarch (46(?)-120(?) a d): Laconic Apophthegms. Of Agesilaus the Great.

His very foot has music in 't

As he comes up the stairs.

W J Mickle (1734-1788): The Mariner's Wife.

  When some were saying that if Caesar should march against the city they could not see what forces there were to resist him, Pompey replied with a smile, bidding them be in no concern, "for whenever I stamp my foot in any part of Italy there will rise up forces enough in an instant, both horse and foot."

Plutarch (46(?)-120(?) a d): Life of Pompey.

One foot in the grave.

Beaumont And Fletcher: The Little French Lawyer. Act i. Sc. 1.

  An old doting fool, with one foot already in the grave.

Plutarch (46(?)-120(?) a d): Of the Training of Children.

  My foot is on my native heath, and my name is MacGregor.

Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832): Rob Roy. Chap. xxxiv.

A foot more light, a step more true,

Ne'er from the heath-flower dash'd the dew.

Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832): Lady of the Lake. Canto i. Stanza 18.

  The dove found no rest for the sole of her foot.

Old Testament: Genesis viii. 9.

This England never did, nor never shall,

Lie at the proud foot of a conqueror.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): King John. Act v. Sc. 7.

The inaudible and noiseless foot of Time.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): All's Well that Ends Well. Act v. Sc. 3.

Too late I stayed,—forgive the crime!

Unheeded flew the hours;

How noiseless falls the foot of time

That only treads on flowers.

William Robert Spencer (1770-1834): Lines to Lady A. Hamilton.

Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more,

Men were deceivers ever,—

One foot in sea and one on shore,

To one thing constant never.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Much Ado about Nothing. Act ii. Sc. 3.

Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more!

Men were deceivers ever;

One foot in sea and one on shore,

To one thing constant never.

Thomas Percy (1728-1811): The Friar of Orders Gray.

One foot in the grave.

Beaumont And Fletcher: The Little French Lawyer. Act i. Sc. 1.

Here comes the lady! O, so light a foot

Will ne'er wear out the everlasting flint.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Romeo and Juliet. Act ii. Sc. 6.

From the crown of our head to the sole of our foot.

Thomas Middleton (1580-1627): A Mad World, my Masters. Act i. Sc. 3.

From the crown of the head to the sole of the foot.

Beaumont And Fletcher: The Honest Man's Fortune. Act ii. Sc. 2.

  From the crown of his head to the sole of his foot, he is all mirth.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Much Ado about Nothing. Act iii. Sc. 2.

I would not enter on my list of friends

(Though graced with polish'd manners and fine sense,

Yet wanting sensibility) the man

Who needlessly sets foot upon a worm.

William Cowper (1731-1800): The Task. Book vi. Winter Walk at Noon. Line 560.

by simon sarris • about