FOIL

noun the track or trail of an animal.

2. foil ·vt to tread under foot; to trample.

3. foil ·vt to defile; to soil.

4. foil ·noun a leaf or very thin sheet of metal; as, brass foil; tin foil; gold foil.

5. foil ·noun failure of success when on the point of attainment; defeat; frustration; miscarriage.

6. foil ·noun a thin coat of tin, with quicksilver, laid on the back of a looking-glass, to cause reflection.

7. foil ·noun anything that serves by contrast of color or quality to adorn or set off another thing to advantage.

8. foil ·noun a blunt weapon used in fencing, resembling a smallsword in the main, but usually lighter and having a button at the point.

9. foil ·vt to blunt; to dull; to spoil; as, to foil the scent in chase.

10. foil ·noun a thin leaf of sheet copper silvered and burnished, and afterwards coated with transparent colors mixed with isinglass;

— employed by jewelers to give color or brilliancy to pastes and inferior stones.

11. foil ·vt to render (an effort or attempt) vain or nugatory; to baffle; to outwit; to balk; to frustrate; to defeat.

12. foil ·noun the space between the cusps in gothic architecture; a rounded or leaflike ornament, in windows, niches, ·etc. a group of foils is called trefoil, quatrefoil, quinquefoil, ·etc., according to the number of arcs of which it is composed.