set foot

verb

To enter

“After the boat capsized, I thought that I would never set foot on dry land again.”

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Meanings

verbset foot (third-person singular simple present sets foot, present participle setting foot, simple past and past participle set foot)

present singular third person sets foot · participle present setting foot · alternative step foot

  1. idiomaticrhetorical with 'in'To enter

    Yet had I scarce set foot in the passage when I stopped, remembering how once already this same evening I had played the coward, and run home scared with my own fears.

    1898, J. Meade Falkner, chapter 4, in Moonfleet (fiction)
  2. idiomaticrhetorical with 'on'To step onto

    After the boat capsized, I thought that I would never set foot on dry land again.

    1 more example

    Who would dare set foot on this inhospitable summit?

    2009 May 13, Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Up, spoken by newsreel announcer (David Kaye), Walt Disney Pictures & Pixar Animation Studios

Translations

Finnish astua jalallaan
  • astua jalallaanto enter
French mettre les pieds, mettre le pied
  • mettre les piedsto enter
  • mettre le piedto enter
  • poser le piedto enter
  • poser les piedsto enter
  • poser le piedto step onto
  • poser les piedsto step onto
Spanish poner el pie, poner pie
  • poner el pieto enter
  • poner pieto enter
  • pisarto enter
Tamil கால்வை
  • கால்வை (kālvai)to step onto
Turkish ayak basmak
  • ayak basmakto step onto
Cite this entry
APA

set foot. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/set%20foot

MLA

“set foot.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/set%20foot. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “set foot,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/set%20foot.

Source: set foot on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.