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Definitions for: Foil
[n] a light slender flexible sword tipped by a button
[n] a piece of thin and flexible sheet metal; "the photographic film was wrapped in foil"
[n] picture consisting of a positive photograph or drawing on a transparent base; viewed with a projector
[n] a device consisting of a flat or curved piece (as a metal plate) so that its surface reacts to the water it is passing through; "the fins of a fish act as hydrofoils"
[n] anything that serves by contrast to call attention to another thing's good qualities; "pretty girls like plain friends as foils"
[v] cover or back with foil; "foil mirrors"
[v] hinder or prevent (the efforts, plans, or desires) of; "What ultimately frustrated every challenger was Ruth's amazing September surge"; "foil your opponent"
[v] enhance by contrast; "In this picture, the figures are foiled against the background"
Webster (1913) Definition: Foil (foil), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Foiled (foild); p. pr.
& vb. n. Foiling.] [F. fouler to tread or trample under
one's feet, to press, oppress. See Full, v. t.]
1. To tread under foot; to trample.
King Richard . . . caused the ensigns of Leopold to
be pulled down and foiled under foot. --Knoless.
Whom he did all to pieces breake and foyle, In
filthy durt, and left so in the loathely soyle.
--Spenser.
2. To render (an effort or attempt) vain or nugatory; to
baffle; to outwit; to balk; to frustrate; to defeat.
And by ? mortal man at length am foiled. --Dryden.
Her long locks that foil the painter's power.
--Byron.
3. To blunt; to dull; to spoil; as, to foil the scent in
chase. --Addison.
Foil, v. t. [See 6th File.]
To defile; to soil. [Obs.]
Foil, n.
1. Failure of success when on the point of attainment;
defeat; frustration; miscarriage. --Milton.
Nor e'er was fate so near a foil. --Dryden.
2. A blunt weapon used in fencing, resembling a smallsword in
the main, but usually lighter and having a button at the
point.
Blunt as the fencer's foils, which hit, but hurt
not. --Shak.
Isocrates contended with a foil against Demosthenes
with a word. --Mitford.
3. The track or trail of an animal.
To run a foil,to lead astray; to puzzle; -- alluding to the
habits of some animals of running back over the same track
to mislead their pursuers. --Brewer.
Foil, n. [OE. foil leaf, OF. foil, fuil, fueil, foille,
fueille, F. feuille, fr. L. folium, pl. folia; akin to Gr. ?,
and perh. to E. blade. Cf. Foliage, Folio.]
1. A leaf or very thin sheet of metal; as, brass foil; tin
foil; gold foil.
2. (Jewelry) A thin leaf of sheet copper silvered and
burnished, and afterwards coated with transparent colors
mixed with isinglass; -- employed by jewelers to give
color or brilliancy to pastes and inferior stones. --Ure.
3. Anything that serves by contrast of color or quality to
adorn or set off another thing to advantage.
As she a black silk cap on him began To set, for
foil of his milk-white to serve. --Sir P.
Sidney.
Hector has a foil to set him off. --Broome.
4. A thin coat of tin, with quicksilver, laid on the back of
a looking-glass, to cause reflection.
5. (Arch.) The space between the cusps in Gothic
architecture; a rounded or leaflike ornament, in windows,
niches, etc. A group of foils is called trefoil,
quatrefoil, quinquefoil, etc., according to the number of
arcs of which it is composed.
Foil stone, an imitation of a jewel or precious stone.
Synonyms: baffle, bilk, cross, enhancer, frustrate, hydrofoil, queer, scotch, spoil, thwart, transparency
See Also: aluminium foil, aluminum foil, attention, chaff, contrast, counterpoint, cover, dash, device, disappoint, double cross, fencing sword, forbid, foreclose, forestall, gold foil, icon, ikon, image, lantern slide, let down, overhead, picture, preclude, prevent, ruin, sheet metal, short-circuit, slide, tin foil, tinfoil, viewgraph
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