English Explanatory Dictionary

fold

English dictionary entry

Meanings

verb
  1. To bend (any thin material, such as paper) over so that it comes in contact with itself.
  2. To make the proper arrangement (in a thin material) by bending.
  3. To draw or coil (one’s arms, a snake’s body, etc.) around something so as to enclose or embrace it.
  4. To stir (semisolid ingredients) gently, with an action as if folding over a solid.
  5. To become folded; to form folds.
  6. To fall over; to collapse or give way; to be crushed.
  7. To give way on a point or in an argument.
  8. To withdraw from betting.
  9. To withdraw or quit in general.
  10. To fail, to collapse, to disband.
  11. Of a company, to cease to trade.
  12. To double or lay together (one’s arms, hands, wings, etc.) so as to overlap with each other.
noun
  1. An act of folding.
  2. Any correct move in origami.
  3. That which is folded together, or which enfolds or envelops.
  4. A bend or crease.
  5. A layer, typically of folded or wrapped cloth.
  6. A clasp, embrace.
  7. A coil of a snake’s body.
  8. A wrapping or covering.
  9. One of the doorleaves of a folding door.
  10. A gentle curve of the ground; gentle hill or valley.
  11. 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.
  12. 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.
noun
  1. A pen or enclosure for sheep or other domestic animals.
  2. Any enclosed piece of land belonging to a farm or mill; yard, farmyard.
  3. An enclosure or dwelling generally.
  4. A group of sheep or goats, particularly those kept in a given enclosure.
  5. Home, family.
  6. A church congregation, a group of people who adhere to a common faith and habitually attend a given church; also, the Christian church as a whole, the flock of Christ.
  7. A group of people with shared ideas or goals or who live or work together.
verb
  1. To confine (animals) in a fold, to pen in.
  2. To include in a spiritual ‘flock’ or group of the saved, etc.
  3. To place sheep on (a piece of land) in order to manure it.
noun
  1. The Earth; earth; land, country.

Pronunciation

/ˈfəʊld/ [ˈfɒʊɫd] /ˈfɒld/ fōld /foʊld/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-fold.wav en-us-fold.ogg /fəʉld/ [fəʉɫd] /faʉld/ [faʉɫd] /fold/ /fould/

Word forms

fold folds folding folded folden

Etymology

The verb is from Middle English folden, from Old English fealdan, from Proto-West Germanic *falþan, from Proto-Germanic *falþaną (“to fold”), from Proto-Indo-European *pel- (“to fold”). The noun is from Middle English folde, falde, itself derived from the verb.

Synonyms

bend crease buckle cave cave in crumple fall over concede give in give way yield bending creasing ply enclosure pen penfold pinfold flock home family congregation fold laity cohort community

Antonyms

unfold

Derived words

befold foldability foldable foldase fold away foldaway foldboat fold down fold-down folder fold flat folding money fold like a cheap suit fold like a cheap suitcase fold like a cheap tent fold like a lawn chair fold mirror fold net foldome foldon fold one's arms fold one's tent foldopathy fold out fold-out foldover foldscope fold under zero pressure fold up infold know when to fold 'em misfold outfold overfold prefold refold unfold upfold above the fold accordion fold banana fold below the fold billfold Bradley Fold centerfold centrefold check-fold downfold efold epicanthal fold epicanthic fold fanfold fentanyl fold fent fold fenty fold fin fold fold and thrust belt foldback fold boat foldchange

Translations

Afrikaans: vou Albanian: palë Asturian: dobladura Bulgarian: сгъване Catalan: plegament Finnish: taittelu Finnish: taittaminen French: pliage Friulian: pleade Friulian: pleadure Galician: dobradura German: Faltung German: Falzung German: Falten Greek: δίπλωμα Hungarian: hajtás Norwegian: bretting Portuguese: dobradura Russian: скла́дывание Spanish: doblamiento Spanish: plisado Spanish: redoblamiento Spanish: plegamiento Swedish: vikning
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
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