FOG
AI In plain words
Writing a short explanation…
Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
fog¹
- /fɒɡ/ UK
- /fɔɡ/
- /fɑɡ/ US, cot caught merger, dialectal
- /fɒɡ/ Canada, dialectal
- /fɔɡ/ Australia
- /fɒɡ/ New Zealand
- [fɔ̟ɡ] New Zealand
Rhymes with -ɒɡ
Where it comes from
Origin uncertain; but probably of North Germanic origin. Probably either a back-formation from foggy (“covered with tall grass; thick, marshy”), from the earlier-attested fog (“tall grass”) (see below), or from or related to Danish fog (“spray, shower, drift, storm”), related to Icelandic fok (“spray, any light thing tossed by the wind, snowdrift”), Icelandic fjúka (“to blow, drive”), from Proto-Germanic *feukaną (“to whisk, blow”), from Proto-Indo-European *pug- (“billow, bulge, drift”), from *pew-, *pow- (“to blow, drift, billow”), in which case related to German fauchen (“to hiss, spit, spray”).
noun fogs
- A thick cloud that forms near the ground; the obscurity of such a cloud. a bank of fog
- A mist or film clouding a surface.
- A state of mind characterized by lethargy and confusion. He did so many drugs, he was still in a fog three months after going through detox.
- A silver deposit or other blur on a negative or developed photographic image.
- Distance fog.
verb fogs · fogging · fogged
- To become covered with or as if with fog.
- To become obscured in condensation or water. The mirror fogged every time he showered.
- To become dim or obscure.
- To make dim or obscure.
- To spoil (film) via exposure to light other than in the normal process of taking a photograph.
- To cover with or as if with fog. Fogging for adult mosquito control began on June 4th in residential areas. Until September 25th, the Metro area was fogged eleven times, using nine truck-mounted foggers, eight hand swing foggers, and two boats.
- To disperse insecticide into (a forest canopy) so as to collect organisms.
- To obscure in condensation or water. Unfortunately, the pendulum has swung way too far to the other end where the saying in the industry is is^([sic]) that if you could fog a mirror, you could get a loan.
- To make confusing or obscure.
fog²
- /fɒɡ/ UK
- /fɔɡ/
- /fɑɡ/ US, cot caught merger, dialectal
- /fɒɡ/ Canada, dialectal
- /fɔɡ/ Australia
- /fɒɡ/ New Zealand
- [fɔ̟ɡ] New Zealand
Rhymes with -ɒɡ
Where it comes from
From Middle English fogge (“tall grass”), probably from Norwegian fogg (“tall, worthless grass”); compare Scots fog (“moss; lichen”).
noun
- A new growth of grass appearing on a field that has been mowed or grazed. The inclosures of fog, or aftergrass, reserved for spring-feed, are now supposed to be shut up, also the burnet, which is never to be fed in autumn ...
- Tall and decaying grass left standing after the cutting or grazing season. […] and they generally leave a great deal of Fog to rot on the Ground, which, with the Help of his well turned Dung-hill, dress his Ground […]
- Moss.
verb fogs · fogging · fogged
- To pasture cattle on the fog (of), or aftergrass, of; to eat off the fog from (a field).
- To become covered with the kind of grass called fog.
fog³
- /fɒɡ/ UK
- /fɔɡ/
- /fɑɡ/ US, cot caught merger, dialectal
- /fɒɡ/ Canada, dialectal
- /fɔɡ/ Australia
- /fɒɡ/ New Zealand
- [fɔ̟ɡ] New Zealand
Rhymes with -ɒɡ
Where it comes from
Compare Old Dutch focker.
verb fogs · fogging · fogged
- To practice in a small or mean way; to pettifog. Where wouldst thou fog to get a fee?
FOG⁴
noun
- Initialism of fat, oil, and grease.fat
- Initialism of frequency of gobbledygook: the commonness of long and complicated words in a text, as measured by systems like the Gunning fog index.frequency of gobbledygook
adjective
- Initialism of fraudulently-obtained genuine, a type of illicit passport.fraudulently-obtained genuine