foil

Meanings

Noun

• A very thin sheet of metal.
• Thin aluminium/aluminum (or, formerly, tin) used for wrapping food.
• A thin layer of metal put between a jewel and its setting to make it seem more brilliant.
• 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, but can also serve as the sidekick of the protagonist.
• Anything that acts by contrast to emphasise the characteristics of something.
• A very thin sword with a blunted (or foiled) tip
• A thin, transparent plastic material on which marks are made and projected for the purposes of presentation. See transparency.
• A stylized flower or leaf.
• A hydrofoil.
• An aerofoil/airfoil.
• Failure when on the point of attainment; defeat; frustration; miscarriage.
• One of the incorrect answers presented in a multiple-choice test.
• The track of an animal.

Verb

• To cover or wrap with foil.
• To prevent (something) from being accomplished.
• To prevent (someone) from accomplishing something.
• To blunt; to dull; to spoil.
• To tread underfoot; to trample.
• To expand a product of two or more algebraic expressions, typically binomials.
• To defile; to soil.

Related

Similar words

• aluminium foil, silver foil, silver paper, tin foil
• put the kibosh on, scupper, thwart
• spoor

Origin

• From Middle English foil, foille, from Old French fueille ("plant leaf"), from Late Latin folia, the plural of folium, mistaken as a singular feminine. folio, and folium.
• From Middle English foilen ("spoil a scent trail by crossing it"), from Old French fouler ("tread on, trample"), ultimately from Latin fullō ("I trample, I full").
• From French foulis.
• From mnemonic acronym FOIL.
• See file.