FOIL

name

/fɔɪl/

Etymology

From Middle English foyle, from Middle French fueille, from Old French fueille (“plant leaf”), from Late Latin folia, the plural of folium, mistaken as a singular feminine. The literary sense is from the practice of backing a gem with metal foil to make it shine more brilliantly. Doublet of folio and folium, distantly also with phyllo and phyllon.

derived from folia
derived from fueille
derived from fueille
inherited from foyle

Definitions

An acronym for the algorithm for multiplying two binomials.
To apply the FOIL algorithm to.
A very thin sheet of metal.
›+ 22 more definitionsshow fewer
1. A very thin sheet of plastic.
2. 5
  Thin aluminium/aluminum (or, formerly, tin) used for wrapping food.
  - wrap the sandwich up in foil
3. A thin layer of metal put between a jewel and its setting to make it seem more brilliant.
4. In literature, theatre/theater, etc., a character who helps emphasize the traits of the…
  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.
5. 8
  Anything that acts by contrast to emphasise the characteristics of something.
  - As she a black silk cap on him begun / To set, for foil of his milk-white to serve.
  - 1725-1726, William Broome, The Odyssey Hector has also a foil to set regard
6. 9
  A very thin sword with a blunted (or foiled) tip.
  - Blunt as the fencer's foils, which hit, but hurt not.
  - 1784-1810, William Mitford, History of Greece Socrates contended with a foil against Demosthenes with a sword.
7. A thin, transparent plastic material on which marks are made and projected for the…
  A thin, transparent plastic material on which marks are made and projected for the purposes of presentation. See transparency.
8. 11
  A premium trading card with a glossy finish.
  - I personally would collect all the foils from Base Set before this one, but the market is what the market is.
9. A stylized flower or leaf.
10. Clipping of hydrofoil.
11. Clipping of aerofoil/airfoil.
12. To cover or wrap with foil.
13. 16
  To prevent (something) from being accomplished.
  - They foiled my plans.
14. 17
  To prevent (someone) from accomplishing something.
  - I was foiled by my superior
  - And by mortal man at length am foil'd.
15. 18
  To blunt
  To blunt; to dull; to spoil.
  - they foil the scent of one another.
16. 19
  To tread underfoot
  To tread underfoot; to trample.
  - King Richard […] caused the ensigns of Leopold to be pulled down and foiled underfoot.
  - Whom he did all to pieces breake and foyle, / In filthy durt, and left so in the loathely soyle.
17. 20
  Failure when on the point of attainment
  Failure when on the point of attainment; defeat; frustration; miscarriage.
  - Fame is no plant that grows on mortal foil
  - Nor e'er was fate so near a foil.
18. One of the incorrect answers presented in a multiple-choice test.
19. 22
  The track of an animal.
  - […]but after giving her a dodge, here's another b— follows me upon the foil.
20. To expand a product of two or more algebraic expressions, typically binomials.
21. To defile
  To defile; to soil.
22. A small arc in the tracery of a window, etc.

The neighborhood

Derived

aluminum foil, biofoil, blisterfoil, bow foil, cephalofoil, cinquefoil, counterfoil, dufoil, F50, featherfoil, foilboard, foilist, foil razor, foil shaver, foilsman, foil stone, gold foil, holofoil, jetfoil, octofoil, quatrefoil, rockfoil, rushfoil, sexfoil, tin foil, tinfoil, trefoil, twifoil, foilable, foiler, unfoiled

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for FOIL. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA