fox

/fɑks/

/fɒks/

Other forms: foxes; foxed; foxing

A fox is a small, dog-like wild animal with pointed ears and nose, and a thick tail. A red fox has dark front legs that look like little opera gloves. They’re sneaky, so a fox can also be a tricky person.

There are different kinds of foxes, but they all have a reputation for sneaking around and stealing stuff. Because they’re known for being wily and smart, you can use the word fox to describe someone who's sly: "That old fox always manages to get other people to buy his lunch." Colloquially, a fox is also an attractive person. They say don’t let a fox guard the henhouse, even if the fox is really good looking.

Definitions of fox

1. noun

   alert omnivorous mammal with pointed muzzle and ears and a bushy tail; most are predators that do not hunt in packs
   types:

   vixen

   a female fox

   Reynard

   a conventional name for a fox used in tales following usage in the old epic `Reynard the Fox'

   Vulpes vulpes, red fox

   the common Old World fox; having reddish-brown fur; commonly considered a single circumpolar species

   Vulpes fulva, red fox

   New World fox; often considered the same species as the Old World fox

   Vulpes velox, kit fox, prairie fox

   small grey fox of the plains of western North America

   Vulpes macrotis, kit fox

   small grey fox of southwestern United States; may be a subspecies of Vulpes velox

   Alopex lagopus, Arctic fox, white fox

   thickly-furred fox of Arctic regions; brownish in summer and white in winter

   Urocyon cinereoargenteus, gray fox, grey fox

   dark grey American fox; from Central America through southern United States

   black fox

   red fox in the color phase when its pelt is mostly black

   silver fox

   red fox in the color phase when its pelt is tipped with white

   blue fox

   a variety of Arctic fox having a pale grey winter coat

   type of:

   canid, canine

   any of various fissiped mammals with nonretractile claws and typically long muzzles
2. noun

   the grey or reddish-brown fur of a fox
   type of:

   fur, pelt

   the dressed hairy coat of a mammal
3. noun

   a shifty deceptive person
   synonyms: dodger, slyboots

   type of:

   beguiler, cheat, cheater, deceiver, slicker, trickster

   someone who leads you to believe something that is not true
4. verb

   deceive somebody
   synonyms: flim-flam, fob, play a joke on, play a trick on, play tricks, pull a fast one on, trick

   types:

   snooker

   fool or dupe

   type of:

   cozen, deceive, delude, lead on

   be false to; be dishonest with
5. verb

   be confusing or perplexing to; cause to be unable to think clearly
   synonyms: bedevil, befuddle, confound, confuse, discombobulate, fuddle, throw

   confuse, disconcert, flurry, put off

   cause to feel embarrassment

   types:

   demoralise, demoralize

   confuse or put into disorder

   amaze, baffle, beat, bewilder, dumbfound, flummox, get, gravel, mystify, nonplus, perplex, pose, puzzle, stick, stupefy, vex

   be puzzling or bewildering to

   disorient, disorientate

   cause to be lost or disoriented

   mix up, stump

   cause to be perplexed or confounded

   riddle

   set a difficult problem or riddle

   elude, escape

   be incomprehensible to; escape understanding by

   type of:

   be

   have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun)
6. verb

   become discolored with, or as if with, mildew spots
   type of:

   spot

   become spotted