Foil definition

Foil





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7 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Foil \Foil\, v. t. [See 6th {File}.]
     To defile; to soil. [Obs.]
     [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:



  Foil \Foil\, n.
     1. Failure of success when on the point of attainment;
        defeat; frustration; miscarriage. --Milton.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Nor e'er was fate so near a foil.     --Dryden.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. A blunt weapon used in fencing, resembling a smallsword in
        the main, but usually lighter and having a button at the
        point.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Blunt as the fencer's foils, which hit, but hurt
              not.                                  --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Isocrates contended with a foil against Demosthenes
              with a word.                          --Mitford.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. The track or trail of an animal.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {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.
        [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Foil \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.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              King Richard . . . caused the ensigns of Leopold to
              be pulled down and foiled under foot. --Knoless.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Whom he did all to pieces breake and foyle,
              In filthy durt, and left so in the loathely soyle.
                                                    --Spenser.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. To render (an effort or attempt) vain or nugatory; to
        baffle; to outwit; to balk; to frustrate; to defeat.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              And by ? mortal man at length am foiled. --Dryden.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Her long locks that foil the painter's power.
                                                    --Byron.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. To blunt; to dull; to spoil; as, to foil the scent in
        chase. --Addison.
        [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Foil \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.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     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.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. Anything that serves by contrast of color or quality to
        adorn or set off another thing to advantage.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              As she a black silk cap on him began
              To set, for foil of his milk-white to serve. --Sir
                                                    P. Sidney.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Hector has a foil to set him off.     --Broome.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. A thin coat of tin, with quicksilver, laid on the back of
        a looking-glass, to cause reflection.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     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.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {Foil stone}, an imitation of a jewel or precious stone.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  foil
       n 1: a piece of thin and flexible sheet metal; "the photographic
            film was wrapped in foil"
       2: anything that serves by contrast to call attention to
          another thing's good qualities; "pretty girls like plain
          friends as foils" [syn: {enhancer}]
       3: 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"
          [syn: {hydrofoil}]
       4: picture consisting of a positive photograph or drawing on a
          transparent base; viewed with a projector [syn: {transparency}]
       5: a light slender flexible sword tipped by a button
       v 1: enhance by contrast; "In this picture, the figures are
            foiled against the background"
       2: hinder or prevent (the efforts, plans, or desires) of; "What
          ultimately frustrated every challenger was Ruth's amazing
          September surge"; "foil your opponent" [syn: {thwart}, {queer},
           {spoil}, {scotch}, {cross}, {frustrate}, {baffle}, {bilk}]
       3: cover or back with foil; "foil mirrors"

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  236 Moby Thesaurus words for "foil":
     Roscius, actor, actress, antagonist, antipode, antipodes, antipole,
     antithesis, antonym, background, background detail, bad guy,
     baffle, bafflement, balk, balking, barnstormer, beat, bilbo, bilk,
     blast, brave, broadsword, buffalo, cast down, challenge, character,
     character actor, character man, character woman, check, checkmate,
     child actor, circumvent, claymore, coat, coating, collop, confound,
     confounding, confront, confusion, contra, contravene, converse,
     counter, counteract, counterbalance, countercheck, countermand,
     counterpoint, counterpoise, counterpole, counterterm, counterwork,
     covering, cross, curb, cut, cutlass, dash, daunt, deal, deceive,
     decorative composition, decorative style, defeat,
     defeat expectation, defy, design, destroy, detail, disappoint,
     discomfit, discomfiture, disconcert, disconcertion, discountenance,
     diseur, diseuse, dish, disillusion, disk, disrupt, dissatisfy,
     dramatizer, elude, embarrass, epee, evade, falchion, faze, feeder,
     feuille, figure, film, flake, flap, flummox, foiling, fold,
     foreground detail, form, frustrate, frustration, get around,
     get round, give the runaround, give the slip, glaive,
     go one better, hamper, heavy, histrio, histrion, impede, ingenue,
     inverse, juvenile, knock the chocks, lamella, lamina,
     laminated glass, laminated wood, lamination, lap, layer, leaf,
     let down, matinee idol, membrane, mime, mimer, mimic, monologist,
     motif, mummer, national style, nonplus, nullify, obverse, offset,
     opposite, opposite number, ornamental motif, outfigure, outflank,
     outgeneral, outguess, outmaneuver, outplay, outreach, outsmart,
     outwit, overreach, pane, panel, pantomime, pantomimist, parry,
     pass the buck, patina, pattern, peel, pellicle, period style,
     perplex, plait, plank, plate, plating, playactor, player, ply,
     plywood, protean actor, rapier, rasher, rattle, rebuff, reciter,
     repeated figure, repulse, restrain, reversal, reverse, rout, ruin,
     saber, sabotage, safety glass, scale, scimitar, scotch, scum,
     setback, setoff, setting, sheet, skin, slab, slat, slice,
     soubrette, spike, spoil, stage performer, stage player, stonewall,
     stooge, straight man, stroller, strolling player, stump, style,
     table, tablet, tantalize, tease, the contrary, the other side,
     theatrical, theme, thespian, thwart, thwarting, touch, trouper,
     tuck, upset, utility man, veneer, victimize, villain, vis-a-vis,
     wafer
  
  

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  FOIL
       
          File Oriented Interpretive Language.  CAI language.
       
          ["FOIL - A File Oriented Interpretive Language",
          J.C. Hesselbart, Proc ACM 23rd National Conf (1968)].
       
       

















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