Dictionary

feet first en · ADV

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Meanings

1. (not-comparable, of the movement or transportation of a person or animal) With the feet preceding the rest of the body.
2. (euphemistic, idiomatic, not-comparable) In the manner of a deceased person (i.e., dead).
   • "If that door opens and any one of you cusses lets on there's anything unusual, right here and then I sure start plugging. They ain't a soul'll get out the room except feet first." 1910, Jack London, chapter 4, in Burning Daylight:
   • "They'll probably have to take me out of here feet first," says Ms. Steinem, punctuating the prediction with a growl of laughter (mortality has been in the back of her mind since breast cancer treatment a dozen years ago, a scare that inspired her to swear off men and meat simultaneously). 2001 May 23, Robin Finn, “Public Lives”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 11 Mar 2016, retrieved 09 Sep 2009:
   • "‘Anybody resigns from us resigns feet first, understand?’ he tells me. So I didn't resign." 1943 October 18, “How to Be a Racketeer”, in TIME, archived from the original on 14 Dec 2008:

Forms

Antonyms

head first

Relateds

turn up one's toes · dead

Synonyms

footling · footling breech

Translations (4)

de mit den Füßen voran (with the feet preceding the rest of the body) · ru вперёд нога́ми (with the feet preceding the rest of the body) · ru нога́ми вперёд (with the feet preceding the rest of the body) · es con los pies por delante (with the feet preceding the rest of the body)