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foil - Meaning and Examples

Meaning of 'foil' (Webster Dictionary)

1 . Foil [ n.]
- Failure of success when on the point of attainment; defeat; frustration; miscarriage.
- A blunt weapon used in fencing, resembling a smallsword in the main, but usually lighter and having a button at the point.
- The track or trail of an animal.
- A leaf or very thin sheet of metal; as, brass foil; tin foil; gold foil.
- 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.
- Anything that serves by contrast of color or quality to adorn or set off another thing to advantage.
- A thin coat of tin, with quicksilver, laid on the back of a looking-glass, to cause reflection.
- 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.
2 . Foil [ v. t.]
- To tread under foot; to trample.
- To render (an effort or attempt) vain or nugatory; to baffle; to outwit; to balk; to frustrate; to defeat.
- To blunt; to dull; to spoil; as, to foil the scent in chase.
- To defile; to soil.

Meaning of 'foil' (Princeton's WordNet)

1 . foil [ n]
Meaning (1):
- anything that serves by contrast to call attention to another thing's good qualities
Example in sentence:
  • pretty girls like plain friends as foils
Meaning (2):
- 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
Example in sentence:
  • the fins of a fish act as hydrofoils
Meaning (3):
- a piece of thin and flexible sheet metal
Example in sentence:
  • the photographic film was wrapped in foil
4 . foil [ v]
Meaning (4):
- cover or back with foil
Example in sentence:
  • foil mirrors
Meaning (5):
- hinder or prevent (the efforts, plans, or desires) of
Example in sentence:
  • foil your opponent;
  • What ultimately frustrated every challenger was Ruth's amazing September surge
Meaning (6):
- enhance by contrast
Example in sentence:
  • In this picture, the figures are foiled against the background

Nearby Words:

foible foilable foiled foiler foiling foin foinery foiningly foison foist

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