from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Foreign \For"eign\, a. [OE. forein, F. forain, LL. foraneus, fr.
L. foras, foris, out of doors, abroad, without; akin to fores
doors, and E. door. See {Door}, and cf. {Foreclose},
{Forfeit}, {Forest}, {Forum}.]
1. Outside; extraneous; separated; alien; as, a foreign
country; a foreign government. "Foreign worlds." --Milton.
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2. Not native or belonging to a certain country; born in or
belonging to another country, nation, sovereignty, or
locality; as, a foreign language; foreign fruits.
"Domestic and foreign writers." --Atterbury.
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Hail, foreign wonder!
Whom certain these rough shades did never breed.
--Milton.
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3. Remote; distant; strange; not belonging; not connected;
not pertaining or pertient; not appropriate; not
harmonious; not agreeable; not congenial; -- with to or
from; as, foreign to the purpose; foreign to one's nature.
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This design is not foreign from some people's
thoughts. --Swift.
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4. Held at a distance; excluded; exiled. [Obs.]
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Kept him a foreign man still; which so grieved him,
That he ran mad and died. --Shak.
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{Foreign attachment} (Law), a process by which the property
of a foreign or absent debtor is attached for the
satisfaction of a debt due from him to the plaintiff; an
attachment of the goods, effects, or credits of a debtor
in the hands of a third person; -- called in some States
trustee, in others factorizing, and in others garnishee
process. --Kent. --Tomlins. --Cowell.
{Foreign bill}, a bill drawn in one country, and payable in
another, as distinguished from an inland bill, which is
one drawn and payable in the same country. In this latter,
as well as in several other points of view, the different
States of the United States are foreign to each other. See
{Exchange}, n., 4. --Kent. --Story.
{Foreign body} (Med.), a substance occurring in any part of
the body where it does not belong, and usually introduced
from without.
{Foreign office}, that department of the government of Great
Britain which has charge British interests in foreign
countries.
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Syn: Outlandish; alien; exotic; remote; distant; extraneous;
extrinsic.
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