fold

An act of folding.

Noun

  1. An act of folding.
    • give the bedsheets a fold before putting them in the cupboard.
    • After two reraises in quick succession, John realised his best option for this poker hand was probably a fold.

    Synonyms: bending creasing

    1. Any correct move in origami.

      Synonyms: bending creasing

  2. That which is folded together, or which enfolds or envelops.
    • […] There sat the Shadow fear’d of man; Who broke our fair companionship, ⁠And spread his mantle dark and cold; And wrapt thee formless in the fold, […] - 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XXII”, in In Memoriam,...

    Synonyms: bend crease

    1. A bend or crease.

    2. A layer, typically of folded or wrapped cloth.

      • […] the Ancient Ægyptian Mummies, were ſhrowded in a Number of Folds of Linnen, beſmeared with Gummes, in manner of Seare-Cloth; […] - 1631, Francis [Bacon], “VIII. Century.”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie....

      Synonyms: ply

    3. A clasp, embrace.

      • […] the weake wanton Cupid Shall from your necke vnlooſe his amorous fould, […] - c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, &...

    4. A coil of a snake’s body.

    5. (obsolete) A wrapping or covering.

    6. One of the doorleaves of a folding door.

  3. A gentle curve of the ground; gentle hill or valley.
  4. 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.
    • The folds are most abrupt to the eastward; to the west, they diminish in boldness, and become gentle undulations - 1863, James Dwight Dana, Manual of Geology:
  5. 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.
    • Newspaper editors know the importance of putting the most important information “above the fold,” that is, visible when the paper is folded and on the rack. - 2007, Jennifer Niederst Robbins, Learning Web Design: A...

    1. (by extension, web design) The division between the part of a web page visible in a web browser window without scrolling; usually the fold.

      • For example, a story that is "page I, above the fold" is considered very important news. In web page design, the fold signifies the place at which the user has to scroll down to get more information. - 1999, Jared M....
  6. Any of a family of higher-order functions that process a data structure recursively to build up a value.
    • It was Erik Meijer who coined the name hylomorphism to describe a computation that consists of a fold after an unfold. The unfold produces a data structure and the fold consumes it. - 2010, Richard Bird, Pearls of...
  7. A section of source code that can be collapsed out of view in an editor to aid readability.
  8. One individual part of something described as manifold, twofold, fourfold, etc.

Origin

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”). Cognate with Dutch vouwen, German falten. The noun is from Middle English folde, falde, itself derived from the verb.

Forms

folds

Derived

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 fold equity foldless

Noun Entry 2

  1. A pen or enclosure for sheep or other domestic animals.
    • Leaps o're the fence with ease into the fold. - 1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias...

    Synonyms: enclosure pen penfold pinfold

  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.

    Synonyms: flock

  5. Home, family.

    Synonyms: 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.
    • And other sheepe I haue, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall heare my voyce; and there shall be one fold, and one shepheard. - 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […]...

    Synonyms: congregation flock fold laity

  7. A group of people with shared ideas or goals or who live or work together.
    • 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. - 2013 September 1, Phil McNulty, BBC Sport:
    • Most recently, in his ambitious 2015 book, Leaving the Jewish Fold, Endelman significantly enlarges his purview in both time and space to broadly survey the phenomenon of Jewish conversion from early medieval to...
    • In a first phase of foreign policy, after 1945, my country sought to regain former enemies’ trust. We are forever grateful that they extended their hand to us, readmitting us into the global fold. - 2023 July 6,...

    Synonyms: cohort community

Origin

The noun is from Middle English fold, fald, from Old English fald, falæd, falod (“fold, stall, stable, cattle-pen”), from Proto-West Germanic *falud, 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”). The verb is from Late Middle English fooldyn, itself derived from the noun.

Forms

folds

Derived

deerfold foldward foldwards gatefold lambfold like a wolf on the fold sheepfold

Noun dialectal, obsolete

  1. The Earth; earth; land, country.

Origin

From Middle English folde, from Old English folde (“earth, land, country, district, region, territory, ground, soil, clay”), from Proto-Germanic *fuldǭ, *fuldō (“earth, ground; field; the world”). Cognate with Old Norse fold (“earth, land, field”), Norwegian and Icelandic fold (“land, earth, meadow”).

Verb Entry 4

  1. To bend (any thin material, such as paper) over so that it comes in contact with itself.
    • Next, fold the paper over, so the right half is on top of the left half.
    • The newspaper was folded under his arm.
  2. To make the proper arrangement (in a thin material) by bending.
    • If you fold the sheets, they'll fit more easily in the drawer.
    • The clothes were folded by the housekeeper.
  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.
    • Fold the egg whites into the batter.
    • 8 Jan 2020, Felicity Cloake in The Guardian, How to make the perfect gluten-free chocolate brownies – recipe if you want to make life really easy for yourself, may I point you in the direction of Sunflour’s recipe,...
  5. To become folded; to form folds.
    • Cardboard doesn't fold very easily.
  6. To fall over; to collapse or give way; to be crushed.
    • The chair folded under his enormous weight.

    Synonyms: buckle cave cave in crumple

  7. To give way on a point or in an argument.
    • He folded that point and didn't bring it up again.
    • He kept saying it was my fault, but when I brought up Sausalito, he folded.

    Synonyms: buckle cave cave in crumple

  8. To withdraw from betting.
    • With no hearts in the river and no chance to hit his straight, he folded.
  9. To withdraw or quit in general.
  10. To fail, to collapse, to disband.
  11. Of a company, to cease to trade.
    • The company folded after six quarters of negative growth.
  12. To double or lay together (one’s arms, hands, wings, etc.) so as to overlap with each other.
    • He folded his arms in defiance.

Forms

folds folding folded folden

Synonyms

bend crease fall over concede give in give way yield

Antonyms

unfold

Derived

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

Verb Entry 5

  1. To confine (animals) in a fold, to pen in.
    • The star that bids the shepherd fold, Now the top of heaven doth hold. - 1634 October 9 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), [John Milton], edited by H[enry] Lawes, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: […]...
    • On the same day [Midsummer Eve] people in the Isle of Man were wont to light fires to the windward of every field, so that the smoke might pass over the corn; and they folded their cattle and carried blazing furze or...
  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.

Forms

folds folding folded

Derived

unfold