What is "foil"

Foil \Foil\, v. t. [See 6th File.] To defile; to soil. [Obs.]

Foil \Foil\, n. [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.

Foil \Foil\, n.

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.

Foil \Foil\ (foil), v. t. [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, v. t.]

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.

c.1300, foilen "to spoil a trace or scent by running over it" (more commonly defoilen), irregularly from Old French foler, fuler "trample on, injure, maim; ill-treat, deceive, get the better of" (13c., Modern French fouler), from Vulgar Latin *fullare "to clean cloth" (by treading on it), from Latin fullo "one who cleans cloth, a fuller," which is of unknown origin. Compare full (v.).\n

\nHence, "to overthrow, defeat" (1540s; as a noun in this sense from late 15c.); "frustrate the efforts of" (1560s). Related: Foiled; foiling. Foiled again! as a cry of defeat and dismay is from at least 1847.

"very thin sheet of metal," early 14c., foile, from Old French foil, fueill, fueille "leaf; foliage; sheet of paper; sheet of metal" (12c., Modern French fueille), from Latin folia, plural (mistaken for fem. singular) of folium "leaf" (see folio).\n

\nThe sense of "one who enhances another by contrast" (1580s) is from the practice of backing a gem with metal foil to make it shine more brilliantly. The meaning "light sword used in fencing" (1590s) could be from this sense, or from foil (v.). The sense of "metallic food wrap" is from 1897.

"apply foil to," 1610s, from foil (n.1).

Etymology 1 n. 1 A very thin sheet of metal. 2 (context uncountable English) Thin aluminium/aluminum (or, formerly, tin) used for wrapping food. 3 A thin layer of metal put between a jewel and its setting to make it seem more brilliant. 4 (context figuratively English) In literature, theatre/theater, etc., a character who helps emphasize the traits of the main character. 5 (context figuratively English) Anything that acts by contrast to emphasise the characteristics of something. 6 (context fencing English) A very thin sword with a blunted (or foiled) tip 7 A thin, transparent plastic material on which marks are made and projected for the purposes of presentation. See transparency. 8 (context heraldiccharge English) A stylized flower or leaf. 9 Shortened form of hydrofoil. 10 Shortened form of aerofoil/airfoil. Etymology 2

n. Failure when on the point of attainment; defeat; frustration; miscarriage. vb. 1 To prevent (something) from being accomplished. 2 To prevent (someone) from accomplishing something. Etymology 3

n. (context hunting English) The track of an animal. Etymology 4

vb. (context mathematics English) To multiply two binomials together. Etymology 5

vb. (context obsolete English) To defile; to soil.

1. n. 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

6. v. enhance by contrast; "In this picture, the figures are foiled against the background"

7. 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]

8. cover or back with foil; "foil mirrors"

Foil may refer to:

A foil is one of the three weapons used in the sport of fencing, all of which are metal. It is flexible, rectangular in cross section, and weighs under a pound. As with the épée, points are only scored by contact with the tip, which in electrically scored tournaments is capped with a spring-loaded button to signal a touch. A foil fencer's uniform features the lamé, a vest, electrically wired to record hits in such cases. It is the most commonly used weapon in competition.

FOIL was the name for two different programming languages.

A foil is a solid object with a shape such that when placed in a moving fluid at a suitable angle of attack the lift (force generated perpendicular to the fluid flow) is substantially larger than the drag (force generated parallel the fluid flow). If the fluid is a gas, the foil is called an airfoil or aerofoil, and if the fluid is water the foil is called a hydrofoil.

In fiction, a foil is a character who contrasts with another character (usually the protagonist) in order to highlight particular qualities of the other character. In some cases, a subplot can be used as a foil to the main plot. This is especially true in the case of metafiction and the " story within a story" motif. The word foil comes from the old practice of backing gems with foil in order to make them shine more brightly.

A foil usually either differs dramatically or is extremely similar but with a key difference setting them apart. The concept of a foil is also more widely applied to any comparison that is made to contrast a difference between two things. Thomas F. Gieryn places these uses of literary foils into three categories, which Tamara A. P. Metze explains as: those that emphasize the heightened contrast (this is different because ...), those that operate by exclusion (this is not X because...), and those that assign blame ("due to the slow decision-making procedures of government...").

A foil is a very thin sheet of metal, usually made by hammering or rolling. Foils are most easily made with malleable metals, such as aluminium, copper, tin, and gold. Foils usually bend under their own weight and can be torn easily. The more malleable a metal, the thinner foil can be made with it. For example, aluminium foil is usually about 1/1000 inch (0.03 mm), whereas gold (more malleable than aluminium) can be made into foil only a few atoms thick, called gold leaf. Extremely thin foil is called metal leaf. Leaf tears very easily and must be picked up with special brushes.

Foil is commonly used in household applications. It is also useful in survival situations, because the reflective surface reduces the degree of hypothermia caused by thermal radiation.

"Foil" is a song by American musician "Weird Al" Yankovic from his fourteenth studio album, Mandatory Fun (2014). The song is a parody of the 2013 single " Royals" by Lorde. The song begins as an ode to the multiple uses of aluminum foil for food storage, but takes a darker turn in its second verse, parodying conspiracy theories, the New World Order, and the Illuminati.

The song's music video stars Yankovic as the host of a cooking program, and features cameo appearances from Patton Oswalt, Tom Lennon, and Robert Ben Garant.

A foil is an architectural device based on a symmetrical rendering of leaf shapes, defined by overlapping circles that produce a series of cusps to make a lobe. Typically, the number of cusps can be three ( trefoil), four ( quatrefoil) or five (cinquefoil), or can be any number (multifoil). Foil motifs may be used as part of the heads and tracery of window lights, complete windows themselves, the underside of arches, in heraldry, within panelling, and as part of any decorative or ornament device. Foil types are commonly found in Gothic and Islamic architecture.

1908 Cinquefoil.png|Cinquefoil Notre-Dame-de-l’Assomption Triumphbogen 195.JPG|Multifoil (eighteen)