footful

Noun

footful (plural footfuls or feetful)

1. An amount that can be picked up by one foot.
   • 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 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
   • 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
3. The amount of pressure that can be exerted by pressing with one foot.
   • 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
   • 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
4. A complete set of toes for one foot.
   • Then I lifted out my leg with a fine footful of toes1959, Homes and Gardens - Volume 40, page 33
   • 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
5. (humorous) A small number, about five.
   • 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. (humorous) As much as one can handle, especially of something handled with one's feet.
   • '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