foxes

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of fox.

   Several foxes had made their dens in the abandoned quarry.

   Farmers set traps to keep foxes away from the chicken coops.

   Note

   The plural adds a full syllable, -es, because fox ends in a hissing sound that a bare -s cannot attach to. It counts every creature the noun names: true foxes, fox terriers, even the dragonet fish. The fur worn as a material stays uncountable, so a collar is trimmed with fox, not with foxes.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of fox.

   The cryptic final clue foxes even seasoned puzzle solvers.

   He foxes his opponents with a sudden change of direction.

   Note

   Spelled and pronounced exactly like the noun plural, it is told apart only by the sentence around it, where a subject comes before it. Usually it is transitive and means "baffles" or "outwits", as when a clue foxes the solver. With paper it is intransitive: in humid conditions an old page foxes, and the spots that result are called foxing.

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