foothole

• foot hole

foot +‎ hole, possibly influenced by foothold.

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foothole (plural footholes)

1. (cricket) A hole in a cricket pitch made by the bowler's foot during the runup.
   • 2006, Mike Averis, The Guardian:

     The 24-year-old, who made three one-day appearances against Australia last summer, injured his ankle on Wednesday and further damaged it yesterday when he slipped in the footholes.

   • 2013, Peter Siddle, BBC Sport:

     "The wicket didn't play too bad today. Day five is going to be the biggest worry. The footholes will get bigger as the day goes on."

2. (mining, climbing) A hole into which the foot can be wedged to aid in climbing; a foothold.
3. (figurative) A foothold. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
4. A deep footprint; a hole made by a foot.
   • 1945, Sara Katherine Casey Maynard, Scott and His Men, page 50:

     They floundered into deep footholes at every step.

   • 1952, Ben Maddow, Forty-four Gravel Street, page 99:

     Wherever there were tracks of children, sleds, large dogs, other couples, or a solitary walker with long, steady paces, these footholes had filled with a veneer of ice.

   • 1976, Christina Stead, Seven Poor Men of Sydney, page 300:

     The trees of the region were fearsomely marked with large footholes scratched by a giant feline animal, and once they saw at a distance a striped creature like a hyena with the markings of a tiger.

   • 2007, Owen Sheers, Resistance, page 119:

     With each step her leg sunk up to the knee. When she pulled her boots back out again she tinged her own footholes with red-brown mud, like the edging of blood around a punctured bandage.

   • 2012, Toni Shelbourne, The truth about wolves and dogs, page 20:

     Only two footholes are needed due to the wolf's narrow gait, as the hind foot oversteps the front paw print. (Courtesy Oliver Matla) .