Link Centre Dictionary

fold

UK/ˈfəʊld/ US/ˈfɒʊɫd/ fairly common informal
verb (6) noun (5)

verb

1.

bend or lay so that one part covers the other

  • “fold up the newspaper”
  • “turn up your collar”
Synonyms
Antonyms
2.

intertwine

  • “fold one”
3.

incorporate a food ingredient into a mixture by repeatedly turning it over without stirring or beating

  • “Fold the egg whites into the batter”
4.

cease to operate or cause to cease operating

  • “The owners decided to move and to close the factory”
  • “My business closes every night at 8 P.M.”
Synonyms
Antonyms
5.

confine in a fold, like sheep

Synonyms
6.

become folded or folded up

  • “The bed folds in a jiffy”
Synonyms

noun

1.

an angular or rounded shape made by folding

  • “a fold in the napkin”
  • “a crease in his trousers”
  • “a plication on her blouse”
  • “a flexure of the colon”
  • “a bend of his elbow”
Synonyms
2.
3.

a folded part (as a fold of skin or muscle)

Synonyms
4.
5.

the act of folding

  • “he gave the napkins a double fold”
Synonyms

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.

Phrases

  • above the fold
  • accordion fold
  • banana fold
  • below the fold
  • Bradley Fold
  • epicanthal fold
  • epicanthic fold
  • fentanyl fold
  • like a wolf on the fold

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

Parts

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.