Dictionary

foxhole en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From Middle English foxhol, from Old English foxhol, equivalent to fox + hole.

Meanings

1. The burrow in the ground where a fox lives.
2. A small pit dug into the ground as a shelter for protection against enemy fire.
   • The statement made during the Second World War that “there are no atheists in foxholes” is absurd. Foxholes teem with atheists—who, to be sure, frequently infringe the Third Commandment in their desperation. 1962, Hoxie Neale Fairchild, Religious Trends in English Poetry: 1880-1920: Gods of a Changing Poetry, Columbia University Press, page 378:
   • Four pilots from the St. Lo, returning from a strike, land at the Dulag Airstrip and are promptly handed carbines, given a foxhole, and told to help repel a Japanese infantry counterattack. With that job done, with the aid of some stacked boxes and buckets full of petrol, they rearm and repair their aircraft, and then head back out to land on other ships. 2019 February 27, Drachinifel, 36:27 from the start, in The Battle of Samar - Odds? What are those?, archived from the original on 03 Nov 2022:

Forms

Deriveds

Foxhole Circuit · there are no atheists in foxholes · foxhole radio

Synonyms

dugout · spider hole · fighting hole

Translations (42)

nl vossenhol (fox's burrow) · da rævegrav (fox's burrow) · sv rävgryt (fox's burrow) · nl schuttersputje (small pit dug into the ground as a shelter) · fi potero (small pit dug into the ground as a shelter) · be ако́п (small pit dug into the ground as a shelter) · mk и́скоп (small pit dug into the ground as a shelter) · be траншэ́я (small pit dug into the ground as a shelter) · fi ketunkolo (fox's burrow) · fr renardière (fox's burrow) · uk лиси́ча нора́ (fox's burrow) · ja 狐塚 (fox's burrow) · ru ша́нец (small pit dug into the ground as a shelter) · pl okop (small pit dug into the ground as a shelter) · uk рів (small pit dug into the ground as a shelter) · nn revehi (fox's burrow) · ru ров (small pit dug into the ground as a shelter) · mk ров (small pit dug into the ground as a shelter) · fr tranchée (small pit dug into the ground as a shelter) · fr trou de tirailleur (small pit dug into the ground as a shelter) · uk транше́я (small pit dug into the ground as a shelter) · mk лиси́чина ду́пка (fox's burrow) · uk око́п (small pit dug into the ground as a shelter) · uk окі́п (small pit dug into the ground as a shelter) · es zorrera (fox's burrow) · ja 蛸壷 (small pit dug into the ground as a shelter) · be роў (small pit dug into the ground as a shelter) · bg и́зкоп (small pit dug into the ground as a shelter) · pl rów (small pit dug into the ground as a shelter) · ru транше́я (small pit dug into the ground as a shelter) · es trinchera (small pit dug into the ground as a shelter) · got 𐌲𐍂𐍉𐌱𐌰 (fox's burrow) · pl lisia nora (fox's burrow) · hu rókalyuk (fox's burrow) · ang foxhol (fox's burrow) · nb revehi (fox's burrow) · mk о́коп (small pit dug into the ground as a shelter) · uk ша́нець (small pit dug into the ground as a shelter) · uk ли́сяча нора́ (fox's burrow) · de Fuchsbau (fox's burrow) · ru ли́сья нора́ (fox's burrow) · ru око́п (small pit dug into the ground as a shelter)

foxhole en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From Middle English foxhol, from Old English foxhol, equivalent to fox + hole.

Meanings

1. (transitive) To dig a military foxhole into, or convert into a foxhole by digging.
   • Trogh and Charlie have started foxholing one corner of our tent, and I helped them a little. 1985, Luther H. Wolff, Forward surgeon: the diary of Luther H. Wolff, M.D., page 70:
   • The line was not foxholed in. This is one weakness of the Nungs. They resent digging and so they do not carry entrenching tools into the field. 1988, Samuel Lyman Atwood Marshall, A. L. Marshall, Ambush: The Battle of Dau Tieng, page 43:
2. (transitive) To drive into a military foxhole.
   • […] the vet recalled with terrible anguish a scene where he and his friend had been foxholed several dozen yards apart, with a small group of enemy soldiers (Viet Cong) coming toward them over the crest of a hill. 2015, Teri Quatman, Essential Psychodynamic Psychotherapy: An Acquired Art:

Forms