footful

plural footfuls · plural feetful

1. An amount that can be picked up by one foot.

   Often he would draw back one huge handful (or footful) of viney soil, only to leave it there while he looked and listened.

   2013, Stephen J. Bodio, Field and Forest: Classic Hunting Stories, →ISBN, page 44

   2 more examples

   Mrs. Terrapin, having selected a place to her liking, moistens the hard clay, then alternately with the sharp claws of her hind feet, begins scraping out a hole about two inches across, lifting the moist earth, footful after footful.

   1929, Forestry Kaimin, page 20

   Why should the owl treat the cuckoo thus? I have not the faintest idea. But she does, and once she clutched a footful of lavender feathers.

   1964, David Stephen, Scottish Wild Life, page 52

2. A quantity (of something) that covers the foot.

   I slowed to a safer speed to avoid plunging into one of the tidepools and receiving a footful of spines.

   1996, Greg Bills, Fearful Symmetry, →ISBN, page 138

   2 more examples

   I well remember, in school on a winter's day, looking up and observing some boy or girl, with painful grimaces, surreptitiously caressing a footful of empurpled chilblains.

   1973, David Morrison, Essays on Fionn MacColla, page 12

   “Poor Elizabeth,” he had teased gently, “smiling politely at all your admirers in the ballroom and secretly nursing two feetful of blisters."

   2016, Mary Balogh, A Chance Encounter, →ISBN

3. The amount of pressure that can be exerted by pressing with one foot.

   You need footfuls of brake, differential power, everything you've got.

   1967 December, James Gilbert, “The Beagle B. 206-S.”, in Flying Magazine, volume 81, number 6, page 37

   2 more examples

   A fast getaway with a real footful of throttle causes fierce wheelspin and decided judder from the rear axle, ...

   1965, Country Life - Volume 137, page 1226

   A footful of brake pressure can slam the front wheel down with enough force to jam it right through the baggage

   1981, Richard L. Taylor, Fair-weather Flying, page 222

4. A complete set of toes for one foot.

   Then I lifted out my leg with a fine footful of toes

   1959, Homes and Gardens - Volume 40, page 33

   3 more examples

   Mabob dashed after it and, before the whompem hit the ground, Mabob had sunk a footful of talons into its spine.

   1991, Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine - Volume 15, page 143

   Huge feet, gray with grime, and big fat toes: a footful of thumbs drumming the pavement.

   1993, Marvin Kaye, Witches & Warlocks, →ISBN, page 401

   Although he claims that he 'couldn't conceive of trying to evade the draft in any way', that is exactly what he did, deliberately seeking out an anti-war doctor and demonstrating to him that he was two toes short of a footful, the result of a teenage argument with a lawnmower.

   2011, John Collis, John Denver: Mother Nature's Son, →ISBN

5. humorousA small number, about five.

   You will undoubtedly have a handful (or footful!) of questions along the way.

   2011, Dr. Craig Richards, Thomas Hollowell, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Barefoot Running, →ISBN

   2 more examples

   One of the feetful of marathons that are a study of efficiency, Berlin also boasts supportive crowds and tremendous excitement.

   1998, Dennis Craythorn, Rich Hanna, The Ultimate Guide to International Marathons, →ISBN, page 194

   They were rock stars at a time when rock stars were supposed to wear silly clothes. The public just looked on, and up, in admiration. Only a handful, or perhaps a footful, of other rockers have come as close to Elton as being identified with a shoe of their own.

   1999, Josh Sims, Mal Peachey, Rock Fashion, page 159

6. humorousAs much as one can handle, especially of something handled with one's feet.

   Virtually every work of Brahms boasts a footful of pedals.

   1999, Bruce Adolphe, Of Mozart, Parrots and Cherry Blossoms in the Wind, →ISBN

   2 more examples

   'Ah've just about had a bellyful of you.' 'An' Ah've had a footful of you, friend.'

   1966, William McIlvanney, Remedy is none, page 168

   Adding power and turning with the rudder is an option, but some precision is sacrificed. The takeoff roll in the -6 is a bit of a handful (footful?).

   1996, Sport Aviation - Volume 45, page 34