Foil
[fɔɪl]
Definition
(noun.) a light slender flexible sword tipped by a button.
(noun.) a piece of thin and flexible sheet metal; 'the photographic film was wrapped in foil'.
(noun.) picture consisting of a positive photograph or drawing on a transparent base; viewed with a projector.
(noun.) anything that serves by contrast to call attention to another thing's good qualities; 'pretty girls like plain friends as foils'.
(verb.) cover or back with foil; 'foil mirrors'.
(verb.) enhance by contrast; 'In this picture, the figures are foiled against the background'.
Editor: Upton--From WordNet
Definition
(v. t.) To tread under foot; to trample.
(v. t.) To render (an effort or attempt) vain or nugatory; to baffle; to outwit; to balk; to frustrate; to defeat.
(v. t.) To blunt; to dull; to spoil; as, to foil the scent in chase.
(v. t.) To defile; to soil.
(n.) Failure of success when on the point of attainment; defeat; frustration; miscarriage.
(n.) A blunt weapon used in fencing, resembling a smallsword in the main, but usually lighter and having a button at the point.
(n.) The track or trail of an animal.
(n.) A leaf or very thin sheet of metal; as, brass foil; tin foil; gold foil.
(n.) 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.
(n.) Anything that serves by contrast of color or quality to adorn or set off another thing to advantage.
(n.) A thin coat of tin, with quicksilver, laid on the back of a looking-glass, to cause reflection.
(n.) 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.
Checker: Phelps
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. a. Defeat, frustrate, balk, disappoint, baffle.
Inputed by George
Synonyms and Antonyms
[See BAFFLE]
SYN:Set-off, background, contrast, enhancement, setting, elucidation
ANT:Eclipse, outshining, extinction, overshadowing
Typed by Lillian
Definition
n. a leaf or thin plate of metal as tin-foil: a thin leaf of metal put under precious stones to increase their lustre or change their colour: anything that serves to set off something else: a small arc in the tracery of a window &c. (trefoiled cinquefoiled multifoiled &c.).—adj. Foiled.—n. Foil′ing.
v.t. to defeat: to puzzle: to disappoint: (Spens.) to beat down or trample with the feet:—pr.p. foil′ing; pa.p. foiled.—n. failure after success seemed certain: defeat: a blunt sword used in fencing having a button on the point.—Put to the foil to blemish.
Editor: Sallust
Examples
- One day Edison appeared with some tin-foil and four or five yards of fine wire. Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
- However, it was finished, the foil was put on; I then shouted 'Mary had a little lamb,' etc. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- The mouthpiece A had adjacent to the cylinder a flexible diaphragm carrying a little point or stylus which bore against the tin foil on the cylinder. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- Edison's cylinder, on which the sounds were recorded and from which they were reproduced, was covered by tin foil. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- Each slab is here automatically wrapped in wax and silver-foil papers. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- Nay, he made this foil of his so very widely known, that third parties took it up, and handled it on some occasions with considerable briskness. Charles Dickens. Hard Times.
- It was written on tissue paper, and wrapped up in tin-foil such as chewing tobacco is folded in. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
- Our friend resolved however not to be foiled in his wish. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- Dust, ashes, smoke, fire, have they all come to, and I, after seventy-five years of life, die foiled and beaten by Fate. Fergus Hume. The Island of Fantasy.
- There were a couple of shelves, with a few plates and cups and saucers; and a pair of stage shoes and a couple of foils hung beneath them. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- Deity unquestioned, thine essence foils decay! Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- He provided foils for us, and Steerforth gave me lessons in fencing--gloves, and I began, of the same master, to improve in boxing. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- Crispin darted a look of gratitude at him, and Maurice, delighted at thus foiling his aunt's schemes, went off to hear that lady's conversation. Fergus Hume. The Island of Fantasy.
Inputed by Jarvis