foreign
    adj 1: of concern to or concerning the affairs of other nations
           (other than your own); "foreign trade"; "a foreign
           office" [ant: domestic]
    2: relating to or originating in or characteristic of another
       place or part of the world; "foreign nations"; "a foreign
       accent"; "on business in a foreign city" [syn: foreign,
       strange] [ant: native]
    3: not contained in or deriving from the essential nature of
       something; "an economic theory alien to the spirit of
       capitalism"; "the mysticism so foreign to the French mind and
       temper"; "jealousy is foreign to her nature" [syn: alien,
       foreign]
    4: not belonging to that in which it is contained; introduced
       from an outside source; "water free of extraneous matter";
       "foreign particles in milk" [syn: extraneous, foreign]

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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FOREIGN. That which belongs to another country; that which is strange. 1 
Peters, R. 343. 
     2. Every nation is foreign to all the rest, and the several states of 
the American Union are foreign to each other, with respect to their 
municipal laws. 2 Wash. R. 282; 4 Conn. 517; 6 Conn. 480; 2 Wend. 411 1 
Dall. 458, 463 6 Binn. 321; 12 S. & R. 203; 2 Hill R. 319 1 D. Chipm. 303 7 
Monroe, 585 5 Leigh, 471; 3 Pick. 293. 
     3. But the reciprocal relations between the national government and the 
several states composing the United States are not considered as foreign, 
but domestic. 9 Pet. 607; 5 Pet. 398; 6 Pet. 317; 4 Cranch, 384; 4 Gill & 
John. 1, 63. Vide Attachment, for foreign attachment; Bill of exchange, for 
foreign bills of exchange; Foreign Coins; Foreign Judgment; Foreign Laws; 
Foreigners.