foul (redirected from fouls up)

by fair means or foul

if you try to achieve something by fair means or foul, you use any method you can to achieve it, even if it is not honest or fair. He was determined to become senator, by fair means or foul.

See also: fair, mean

fall foul of someone

to upset someone, so that they do not like you and try to harm you. Officials who fall foul of the mayor find themselves exiled to the most boring departments.

See also: fall

fall foul of something (slightly formal)

to break a law or a rule, and often be punished. If their market share grows too large, they will fall foul of anti-monopoly laws.

See also: fall

foul play

1. actions which are not fair or honest. A virus wiped out all our computer-held records. We suspect foul play on the part of an ex-employee.

2. murder. It's not clear why the man drowned, but the police haven't ruled out foul play.

See also: play

foul-mouthed

someone who is foul-mouthed swears a lot. He was foul-mouthed and violent.

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foul up

to make a mistake. I'm sorry, I fouled up — I meant to send the last message just to Frank, not the whole group.

foul up something

1. to spoil something by making a mistake or doing something stupid. It takes the same amount of time to do things right as to foul them up.

2. to damage a machine or system. Too much aspirin can really foul up your stomach.

no harm, no foul

there is no problem if no serious damage was done. In his excitement, he deleted all the files, but they were restored later from a backup copy — no harm, no foul.

Etymology: from the use of this phrase in basketball (= a sport) to say that if an action that is against the rules has no effect on the results of the game, there should be no foul (= punishment)