Dictionary.net

anything that serves by contrast to call attention to another thing's good qualities; "pretty girls like plain friends as foils"

a light slender flexible sword tipped by a button

a piece of thin and flexible sheet metal; "the photographic film was wrapped in foil"

cover or back with foil; "foil mirrors"

anything that serves by contrast to call attention to another thing's good qualities; "pretty girls like plain friends as foils"

a light slender flexible sword tipped by a button

a piece of thin and flexible sheet metal; "the photographic film was wrapped in foil"

cover or back with foil; "foil mirrors"

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

To baffle or frustrate; defeat.

A long thin fencing weapon with a button on the end; the trail of hunted game; a thin plate, or sheet of metal; a contrast to set something off to advantage; a small arc in the tracery of a Gothic window, etc.

To defeat; to puzzle; to disappoint:-pr.p. foiling; pa.p. foiled.

Failure after success seemed certain; defeat.

A blunt sword used in fencing.

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 color; anything that serves to set off something else.

Blunt sword used in fencing; thin leaf of metal; metallic leaf set under gems; anything that sets off another.

Defeat; failure.

To baffle; disappoint.

To render ineffectual; frustrate; balk.

Metal in very thin sheets, as on the back of a mirror.

A leaf - like division in architectural ornamentation.

A sword - like implement, with a button on its end, used in fencing.

Defeat; the failure of success when on the point of being secured; a blunt sword, or one that has a button at the end covered with leather, used in fencing; the track or trail of game when pursued.

A leaf or thin plate of metal, as, tin-foil; a small rounded leaf-like form in window tracery; among jewellers, a thin leaf of metal placed under precious stones to increase their brilliancy; anything of another colour, or of different quality, which serves to set off another thing to advantage; a thin coat of tin with quicksilver, laid on the back of a mirror to cause reflection.

To frustrate; to defeat; to baffle; to blunt; to dull.

To frustrate; to defeat; to baffle; to render unavailing.

Defeat; frustration.

The blunted weapon used in fencing or in learning the sword exercise.

A thin leaf of metal, as tin-foil, silver-foil, &c.; a piece of gold or silver leaf set behind a gem to give it colour or lustre; anything used for showing another object to advantage; in arch., one of the small arcs in the tracery of Gothic windows, panels, &c.

n. Failure of success when on the point of being secured; defeat: frustration; miscarriage;—a blunt sword, or one that has a button at the end—used in fencing.

n. [Latin] A leaf or thin plate of metal;—a thin leaf of metal placed under precious stones to increase their brilliancy or colour; hence, any thing of another colour, or of different qualities, which serves to adorn, or set off another thing to advantage;—a rounded or loaf-like ornament in windows, niches, &c., called trefoil, quatrefoil, cinquefoil, &c, according to the number of arcs of which it is composed;—a thin coat of tin on the back of a looking-glass.

A defeat, a miscarriage; leaf, gilding; something of another colour near which jewels are set to raise their lustre; a blunt sword used in fencing.