foots

1. 1
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of foot.

   The company foots the legal expenses for any employee sued over their work.

   Whoever organizes the reunion usually foots most of the costs upfront.

   Note

   The form you usually meet when money is involved: whoever foots the bill pays it, and in that meaning the verb always takes an object, as in foots the bill or foots the cost. The same verb can also mean to kick a ball, to walk, or to dance. Its spelling is shared with two nouns, the barrel-sediment word and a nonstandard plural of foot.

2. 2
   nounnonstandardplural

   Plural of foot. Nonstandard; the usual plural is feet.

   The crew reinforced the foots of the mainsail and jib before the crossing.

   The factory produced the legs and foots of the socks on different machines.

   Note

   Standard English rejects this regularized plural for the body part and for the base of something. The accepted form is feet, and foots in that role reads as a mistake, so keep it out of careful writing. Don't confuse it with the barrel-sediment noun, which is correctly spelled foots and is always plural.

3. 3
   nounplural

   The sediment of oil, molasses, or similar substances that settles at the bottom of a barrel or large cask.

   Like the grounds that gather at the bottom of a pot of coffee.

   Before refilling the cask, the cooper cleaned out the thick foots left from last season.

   The refinery sold the oil foots as a cheaper grade of lubricant.

   Similardregs, sediment, sludge, residue, lees

   Note

   A noun that exists only in the plural. There is no single "foot" of oil, and the word takes a plural verb: the foots were drawn off, the foots are thick. The name fits its meaning, because foot also means the base or bottom of anything, and this is what gathers at the bottom of the cask.

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