foul play

illegal activity; bad practices. The police investigating the death suspect foul play. Each student got an A on the test, and the teacher imagined it was the result of foul play.

foul play

1. actions which are not fair or honest A virus wiped out all our computer-held records. We suspect foul play on the part of an ex-employee.

2. murder It's not clear why the man drowned, but the police haven't ruled out foul play.

See fall foul of, fall foul of

foul play

Unfair or treacherous action, especially involving violence. For example, The police suspected he had met with foul play. This term originally was and still is applied to unfair conduct in a sport or game and was being used figuratively by the late 1500s. Shakespeare used it in The Tempest (1:2): "What foul play had we, that we came from thence?"

Common Names:

Name	Pronounced	Usage
Abner	['æbnə]
Verusha	-	Russian
Thabo	-	Southern African, Tswana
Thelonius	-	Various
Astride	-	French
Ruta	RUW-tah	Polish