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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Foil \Foil\, verb (used with an object) [See 6th {File}.] To defile; to soil. [Obs.]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Foil \Foil\, noun [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.
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.
3. Anything that serves by contrast of color or quality to adorn or set off another thing to advantage.
As she a black silk cap on him began To set, for foil of his milk-white to serve. --Sir P. Sidney.
Hector has a foil to set him off. --Broome.
4. A thin coat of tin, with quicksilver, laid on the back of a looking-glass, to cause reflection.
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.
{Foil stone}, an imitation of a jewel or precious stone.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Foil \Foil\, noun
1. Failure of success when on the point of attainment; defeat; frustration; miscarriage. --Milton.
Nor e'er was fate so near a foil. --Dryden.
2. A blunt weapon used in fencing, resembling a smallsword in the main, but usually lighter and having a button at the point.
Blunt as the fencer's foils, which hit, but hurt not. --Shak.
Isocrates contended with a foil against Demosthenes with a word. --Mitford.
3. The track or trail of an animal.
{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.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Foil \Foil\ (foil), verb (used with an object) [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}, verb (used with an object)]
1. To tread under foot; to trample.
King Richard . . . caused the ensigns of Leopold to be pulled down and foiled under foot. --Knoless.
Whom he did all to pieces breake and foyle, In filthy durt, and left so in the loathely soyle. --Spenser.
2. To render (an effort or attempt) vain or nugatory; to baffle; to outwit; to balk; to frustrate; to defeat.
And by ? mortal man at length am foiled. --Dryden.
Her long locks that foil the painter's power. --Byron.
3. To blunt; to dull; to spoil; as, to foil the scent in chase. --Addison.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
foil
noun
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
verb
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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