Fold

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /fəʊld/, /fɔʊld/
• US enPR: fōld, IPA: /foÊŠld/
• also IPA: /flÌ©d/
• Homophones: foaled
• Rhymes: -əʊld

Middle English folden, from Old English fealdan, from Proto-Germanic *falþaną ("to fold"), from Proto-Indo-European *palo-, *plō- ("to fold"), compare Albanian palë. Akin to Dutch vouwen, German falten, Gothic 𐍆𐌰𐌻𐌸𐌰𐌽, Old Norse falda (Danish folde).

Full definition of fold

Verb

1. (transitive) To bend (any thin material, such as paper) over so that it comes in contact with itself.
2. (transitive) To make the proper arrangement (in a thin material) by bending.If you fold the sheets, they'll fit more easily in the drawer.
3. (intransitive) To become folded; to form folds.Cardboard doesn't fold very easily.
4. (intransitive, informal) To fall over; to be crushed.The chair folded under his enormous weight.
5. (transitive) To enclose within folded arms (see also enfold).
• 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula Chapter 21He put out his arms and folded her to his breast. And for a while she lay there sobbing. He looked at us over her bowed head, with eyes that blinked damply above his quivering nostrils. His mouth was set as steel.
6. (intransitive) To give way on a point or in an argument.
7. (intransitive, poker) To withdraw from betting.With no hearts in the river and no chance to hit his straight, he folded.
8. (transitive, cooking) To stir gently, with a folding action.Fold the egg whites into the batter.
9. (intransitive, business) Of a company, to cease to trade.The company folded after six quarters of negative growth.
10. To double or lay together, as the arms or the hands.He folded his arms in defiance.
11. To cover or wrap up; to conceal.
• ShakespeareNor fold my fault in cleanly coined excuses.

Synonyms

• (bend (thin material) over) bend, crease
• (fall over) fall over
• (give way on a point or in an argument) concede, give in, give way, yield

Antonyms

• unfold

Derived terms

Noun

1. An act of folding.
2. A bend or crease.
• Francis Baconmummies ... shrouded in a number of folds of linen
• J. D. DanaFolds are most common in the rocks of mountainous regions.
3. Any correct move in origami.
4. (newspapers) The division between the top and bottom halves of a broadsheet: headlines above the fold will be readable in a newsstand display; usually the fold.
5. (by extension, web design) The division between the part of a web page visible in a web browser window without scrolling; usually the fold.
6. (geology) The bending or curving of one or a stack of originally flat and planar surfaces, such as sedimentary strata, as a result of plastic (i.e. permanent) deformation.
7. (computing, programming) In functional programming, any of a family of higher-order functions that process a data structure recursively to build up a value.
8. That which is folded together, or which enfolds or envelops; embrace.
• ShakespeareShall from your neck unloose his amorous fold.
• 2013, Phil McNulty, "http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/23830980", BBC Sport, 1 September 2013:Having suffered the loss of Rooney just as he had returned to the fold, Moyes' mood will not have improved as Liverpool took the lead in the third minute.

Synonyms

• (act of folding) bending, creasing.
• (bend or crease) bend, crease.
• (home, family)
• (correct move in origami)

Derived terms

• above the fold
• below the fold

From Middle English fold, fald, from Old English fald, falæd, falod ("fold, stall, stable, cattle-pen"), from Proto-Germanic *faludaz ("enclosure"). Akin to Scots fald, fauld ("an enclosure for livestock"), Dutch vaalt ("dung heap"), Middle Low German valt, vālt ("an inclosed space, a yard"), Danish fold ("pen for herbivorous livestock"), Swedish fålla ("corral, pen, pound").

Noun

1. A pen or enclosure for sheep or other domestic animals.
• MiltonLeaps o'er the fence with ease into the fold.
• 1913, w, Lord Stranleigh Abroad Chapter 4, “I came down like a wolf on the fold, didn’t I ?  Why didn’t I telephone ?  Strategy, my dear boy, strategy. This is a surprise attack, and I’d no wish that the garrison, forewarned, should escape. …”
2. (figuratively) Home, family.
3. (religion, Christian) A church congregation, a church, the Christian church as a whole, the flock of Christ.John, X, 16: "Other sheep I have which are not of this fold."
4. (obsolete) A boundary or limit.

Synonyms

• enclosure
• pen
• penfold, pinfold

Verb

1. To confine sheep in a fold.The star that bids the shepherd fold — Milton.

From Middle English, from Old English folde ("earth, land, country, district, region, territory, ground, soil, clay"), from Proto-Germanic *fuldÇ­ ("ground, plain"), from Proto-Indo-European *pel- ("field, plain"). Cognate with Norwegian and Icelandic fold ("land, earth, meadow").

Noun

1. (dialectal, poetic or obsolete) The Earth; earth; land, country.----