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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

footwork en · NOUN

Pronunciation

  • /ˈfʊt.wɜːk/ (UK, US)
  • (US) audio

Etymology

Etymology tree English foot Proto-Indo-European *werǵ- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *wr̥ǵyéti Proto-Germanic *wurkijaną Proto-West Germanic *wurkijan Proto-Indo-European *werǵ- Proto-Indo-European *-om Proto-Indo-European *wérǵom Proto-Germanic *werką Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Germanic *-janą Proto-Germanic *wirkijaną Proto-West Germanic *wirkijan Old English wyrċan Middle English worchen English work English footwork From foot + work.

Meanings

  1. (uncountable, usually) Any movement of the feet, especially intricate or complex movement, as in sports or dancing.
    • The horses impressed the riders with their unerring footwork, and the mountain goats simply astounded everyone with their surefootedness.
    • The dancer impressed the crowd with his fancy footwork.
    • Everton defender Distin then demonstrated neat footwork to evade a succession of challenges inside the area before sending a rising, angled effort narrowly off target. 2011 October 1, Phil McNulty, “Everton 0 - 2 Liverpool”, in BBC Sport, archived from the original on 06 Jan 2012:
  2. (uncountable, usually) A subgenre of juke/ghetto house and style of street dance that originated in Chicago in the early 1990s.
    • In April, DJ Rashad, a Chicago-based producer and pioneer of the increasingly popular footwork genre, died in a drug-related accident. 2015 November 16, Sukhdev Sandhu, “How dub master Kode9 became the hero of zero”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 08 Jan 2021:
  3. (informal, uncountable, usually) Finesse.
    • It took some fancy footwork to make it all happen.

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
footworks Number=Plur lexicographic

Relateds

surefootedness · floorwork · foothold · footfall · legwork · footloose

Translations (6)

ru футво́рк (subgenre of juke) · es juego de pies (any intricate or complex movement of the feet, especially as in sport or dancing) · mi raka(nga)wae (any intricate or complex movement of the feet, especially as in sport or dancing) · pl praca nóg (any intricate or complex movement of the feet, especially as in sport or dancing) · es trabajo podal (any intricate or complex movement of the feet, especially as in sport or dancing) · pl footwork (subgenre of juke)