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Definition foil

Etymology 1

From Middle English foil, foille, from Old French fueille (“plant leaf”), from Late Latin folia, the plural of folium, mistaken as a singular feminine. Doublet of folio.

Noun

foil (countable and uncountable, plural foils)

1. A very thin sheet of metal.
2. (uncountable) Thin aluminium/aluminum (or, formerly, tin) used for wrapping food.
3. A thin layer of metal put between a jewel and its setting to make it seem more brilliant.
4. (authorship, figuratively) In literature, theatre/theater, etc., a character who helps emphasize the traits of the main character and who usually acts as an opponent or antagonist.
5. (figuratively) Anything that acts by contrast to emphasise the characteristics of something.
6. (fencing) A very thin sword with a blunted (or foiled) tip
7. A thin, transparent plastic material on which marks are made and projected for the purposes of presentation. See transparency.
8. (heraldry) A stylized flower or leaf.
9. A hydrofoil.
10. An aerofoil/airfoil.

Verb

foil (third-person singular simple present foils, present participle foiling, simple past and past participle foiled)

1. (transitive) To cover or wrap with foil.

Etymology 2

From Middle English foilen (“spoil a scent trail by crossing it”), from Old French fouler (“tread on, trample”), ultimately from Latin fullo (“clothes cleaner, fuller”).

Verb

foil (third-person singular simple present foils, present participle foiling, simple past and past participle foiled)

1. To prevent (something) from being accomplished.
2. To prevent (someone) from accomplishing something.
3. To blunt; to dull; to spoil.
4. (obsolete) To tread underfoot; to trample.

Noun

foil (plural foils)

1. Failure when on the point of attainment; defeat; frustration; miscarriage.
2. One of the incorrect answers presented in a multiple-choice test.

Etymology 3

From French foulis.

Noun

foil (plural foils)

1. (hunting) The track of an animal.

Etymology 4

From mnemonic acronym FOIL (“First Outside Inside Last”).

Verb

foil (third-person singular simple present foils, present participle foiling, simple past and past participle foiled)

1. (mathematics) To expand a product of two or more algebraic expressions, typically binomials.

Etymology 5

See file.

Verb

foil (third-person singular simple present foils, present participle foiling, simple past and past participle foiled)

1. (obsolete) To defile; to soil.

Results 499 Words with the letters FOIL

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