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fold - 19 dictionary results

fold

1  [fohld]
Use fold in a Sentence
–verb (used with object)
1. to bend (cloth, paper, etc.) over upon itself.
2. to bring into a compact form by bending and laying parts together (often fol. by up): to fold up a map; to fold one's legs under oneself.
3. to bring (the arms, hands, etc.) together in an intertwined or crossed manner; clasp; cross: He folded his arms on his chest.
4. to bend or wind (usually fol. by about, round, etc.): to fold one's arms about a person's neck.
5. to bring (the wings) close to the body, as a bird on alighting.
6. to enclose; wrap; envelop: to fold something in paper.
7. to embrace or clasp; enfold: to fold someone in one's arms.
8. Cards. to place (one's cards) facedown so as to withdraw from the play.
9. Informal. to bring to an end; close up: The owner decided to fold the business and retire.
–verb (used without object)
10. to be folded or be capable of folding: The doors fold back.
11. Cards. to place one's cards facedown so as to withdraw from the play.
12. Informal. to fail in business; be forced to close: The newspaper folded after 76 years.
13. Informal. to yield or give in: Dad folded and said we could go after all.
–noun
14. a part that is folded; pleat; layer: folds of cloth.
15. a crease made by folding: He cut the paper along the fold.
16. a hollow made by folding: to carry something in the fold of one's dress.
17. a hollow place in undulating ground: a fold of the mountains.
18. Geology. a portion of strata that is folded or bent, as an anticline or syncline, or that connects two horizontal or parallel portions of strata of different levels (as a monocline).
19. Journalism.
a. the line formed along the horizontal center of a standard-sized newspaper when it is folded after printing.
b. a rough-and-ready dividing line, esp. on the front page and other principal pages, between stories of primary and lesser importance.
20. a coil of a serpent, string, etc.
21. the act of folding or doubling over.
22. Anatomy. a margin or ridge formed by the folding of a membrane or other flat body part; plica.
—Verb phrases
23. fold in, Cookery. to mix in or add (an ingredient) by gently turning one part over another: Fold in the egg whites.
24. fold up, Informal.
a. to break down; collapse: He folded up when the prosecutor discredited his story.
b. to fail, esp. to go out of business.
Origin:
bef. 900; (v.) ME folden, falden, OE faldan; c. G. falten; (v.) ME fald, deriv. of the n.; akin to L plicāre to fold, plectere to plait, twine, Gk plékein; cf. -fold

Related forms:
fold⋅a⋅ble, adjective

fold

2  [fohld]
–noun
1. an enclosure for sheep or, occasionally, other domestic animals.
2. the sheep kept within it.
3. a flock of sheep.
4. a church.
5. the members of a church; congregation: He preached to the fold.
6. a group sharing common beliefs, values, etc.: He rejoined the fold after his youthful escapade.
–verb (used with object)
7. to confine (sheep or other domestic animals) in a fold.
Origin:
bef. 900; ME fold, fald, OE fald, falod; akin to OS faled pen, enclosure, MLG vālt pen, enclosure, manure heap, MD vaelt, vaelde

-fold

 
a native English suffix meaning “of so many parts,” or denoting multiplication by the number indicated by the stem or word to which the suffix is attached: twofold; manifold.
Origin:
ME; OE -fald, -feald, c. OFris, OS -fald, G -falt, ON -faldr, Goth -falths, all repr. the Gmc base of fold 1 ; akin to Gk -ploos, -plous (see haplo-, diplo- ), L -plus (see simple, double, etc.), -plex -plex
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To fold
fold 1   (fōld)   
v.   fold·ed, fold·ing, folds

v.   tr.
  1. To bend over or double up so that one part lies on another part: fold a sheet of paper.
  2. To make compact by doubling or bending over parts: folded the laundry; folded the chairs for stacking.
  3. To bring from an extended to a closed position: The hawk folded its wings.
  4. To bring from a compact to an extended position; unfold: folded the ironing board down from the wall; folded out the map to see where we were.
  5. To place together and intertwine: fold one's arms.
  6. To envelop or clasp; enfold: folded his children to his breast; folded the check into the letter.
  7. To blend (a light ingredient) into a heavier mixture with a series of gentle turns: folded the beaten egg whites into the batter.
    1. Informal To discontinue operating; close: They had to fold the company a year after they started it.
    2. Games To withdraw (one's hand) in defeat, as by laying cards face down on a table.
  9. Geology To form bends in (a stratum of rock).
v.   intr.
    1. To become folded.
    2. To be capable of being folded: a bed that folds for easy storage.
    3. To give in; buckle: a team that never folded under pressure.
    4. To weaken or collapse from exertion.
  2. Informal To close, especially for lack of financial success; fail.
  3. Games To withdraw from a game in defeat.
  4. Informal
    1. To give in; buckle: a team that never folded under pressure.
    2. To weaken or collapse from exertion.
n.  
  1. The act or an instance of folding.
  2. A part that has been folded over or against another: the loose folds of the drapery; clothes stacked in neat folds.
  3. A line or mark made by folding; a crease: tore the paper carefully along the fold.
  4. A coil or bend, as of rope.
  5. Chiefly British A hill or dale in undulating country.
  6. Geology A bend in a stratum of rock.
  7. Anatomy A crease or ridge apparently formed by folding, as of a membrane; a plica.

[Middle English folden, from Old English fealdan, faldan; see pel-2 in Indo-European roots.]
fold'a·ble adj.
fold 2   (fōld)   
n.  
  1. A fenced enclosure for domestic animals, especially sheep.
  2. A flock of sheep.
    1. A group of people or institutions bound together by common beliefs and aims: "He is a living testament to the wisdom of admitting lay psychoanalysts into the official fold" (Jerome Bruner).
    2. A religious congregation: The priest welcomed new parishioners into the fold.
tr.v.   fold·ed, fold·ing, folds
To place or keep (sheep, for example) in a fenced enclosure.

[Middle English, from Old English fald.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Fold

Fold\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Folded; p. pr. & vb. n. Folding.] [OE. folden, falden, AS. fealdan; akin to OHG. faltan, faldan, G. falten, Icel. falda, Dan. folde, Sw. f[*a]lla, Goth. fal?an, cf. Gr.? twofold, Skr. pu?a a fold. Cf. Fauteuil.]

1. To lap or lay in plaits or folds; to lay one part over another part of; to double; as, to fold cloth; to fold a letter.

As a vesture shalt thou fold them up. --Heb. i. 12.

2. To double or lay together, as the arms or the hands; as, he folds his arms in despair.

3. To inclose within folds or plaitings; to envelop; to infold; to clasp; to embrace.

A face folded in sorrow. --J. Webster.

We will descend and fold him in our arms. --Shak.

4. To cover or wrap up; to conceal.

Nor fold my fault in cleanly coined excuses. --Shak.

Fold

Fold\, v. i. To become folded, plaited, or doubled; to close over another of the same kind; to double together; as, the leaves of the door fold. --1 Kings vi. 34.

Fold

Fold\, n. [From Fold, v. In sense 2 AS. -feald, akin to fealdan to fold.]

1. A doubling,esp. of any flexible substance; a part laid over on another part; a plait; a plication.

Mummies . . . shrouded in a number of folds of linen. --Bacon.

Folds are most common in the rocks of mountainous regions. --J. D. Dana.

2. Times or repetitions; -- used with numerals, chiefly in composition, to denote multiplication or increase in a geometrical ratio, the doubling, tripling, etc., of anything; as, fourfold, four times, increased in a quadruple ratio, multiplied by four.

3. That which is folded together, or which infolds or envelops; embrace.

Shall from your neck unloose his amorous fold. --Shak.

Fold net, a kind of net used in catching birds.

Fold

Fold\, n. [OE. fald, fold, AS. fald, falod.]

1. An inclosure for sheep; a sheep pen.

Leaps o'er the fence with ease into the fold. --Milton.

2. A flock of sheep; figuratively, the Church or a church; as, Christ's fold.

There shall be one fold and one shepherd. --John x. 16.

The very whitest lamb in all my fold. --Tennyson.

3. A boundary; a limit. [Obs.] --Creech.

Fold yard, an inclosure for sheep or cattle.

Fold

Fold\, v. t. To confine in a fold, as sheep.

Fold

Fold\, v. i. To confine sheep in a fold. [R.]

The star that bids the shepherd fold. --Milton.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : fold
Spanish: doblar, plegar,
German: falten,
Japanese: 折る
More Translations »

fold  (v.)
O.E. faldan (Mercian), fealdan (W.Saxon), "to bend cloth back over itself," class VII strong verb (past tense feold, pp. fealden), from P.Gmc. *falthanan (cf. O.N. falda, M.L.G. volden, Ger. falten, Goth. falþan), from PIE *pel-to- (cf. Skt. putah "fold, pocket," Alb. pale "fold," M.Ir. alt "a joint"), from base *pel- "to fold." The weak form developed from 15c. Sense of "to yield to pressure" is from 1398. The noun meaning "a bend or ply in anything" is c.1250, from the verb. Folder "folding cover for loose papers," is first recorded 1911.

fold  (n.)
"pen or enclosure for sheep or other domestic animals," O.E. falæd, falud, a Gmc. word (cf. E.Fris. folt "enclosure, dunghill," Dan. fold "pen for sheep"), of uncertain origin.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Main Entry: 1fold
Pronunciation: 'fOld
Function: intransitive verb
: to become doubled or pleated

Main Entry: 2fold
Function: noun
: a margin apparently formed by the doubling upon itself of a flat anatomical structure (as a membrane)
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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fold 1 (fōld)
n.

  1. A crease or ridge apparently formed by folding, as of a membrane; a plica.
  2. In the embryo, a transient elevation or reduplication of tissue in the form of a lamina.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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fold   (fōld)  Pronunciation Key 


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A bend in a layer of rock or in another planar feature such as foliation or the cleavage of a mineral. Folds occur as the result of deformation, usually associated with plate-tectonic forces.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
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Fold

an enclosure for flocks to rest together (Isa. 13:20). Sheep-folds are mentioned Num. 32:16, 24, 36; 2 Sam. 7:8; Zeph. 2:6; John 10:1, etc. It was prophesied of the cities of Ammon (Ezek. 25:5), Aroer (Isa. 17:2), and Judaea, that they would be folds or couching-places for flocks. "Among the pots," of the Authorized Version (Ps. 68:13), is rightly in the Revised Version, "among the sheepfolds."

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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fold

In addition to the idioms beginning with fold, also see return to the fold.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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