Definitions for the word "foil" from multiple English dictionaries.
1. v. t.
To tread under foot; to trample.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
2. v. t.
To render (an effort or attempt) vain or nugatory; to baffle; to outwit; to balk; to frustrate; to defeat.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
3. v. t.
To blunt; to dull; to spoil; as, to foil the scent in chase.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
4. v. t.
To defile; to soil.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
5. n.
Failure of success when on the point of attainment; defeat; frustration; miscarriage.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
6. n.
A blunt weapon used in fencing, resembling a smallsword in the main, but usually lighter and having a button at the point.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
7. n.
The track or trail of an animal.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
8. n.
A leaf or very thin sheet of metal; as, brass foil; tin foil; gold foil.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
9. 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.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
10. n.
Anything that serves by contrast of color or quality to adorn or set off another thing to advantage.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
11. n.
A thin coat of tin, with quicksilver, laid on the back of a looking-glass, to cause reflection.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
12. 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.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
13. v.
Frustrate, baffle, defeat. [perhaps from french fouler trample]
Source: Oxford English Dictionary, 1884
14. n.
1 metal rolled into a very thin sheet. 2 person or thing setting off another to advantage. [latin folium leaf]
Source: Oxford English Dictionary, 1884
15. n.
Light blunt fencing sword. [origin unknown]
Source: Oxford English Dictionary, 1884
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Additional Info
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