Category:Fold

Fold, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Folded; p. pr. & vb. n. Folding.] Etym: [OE. folden, falden, AS. fealdan; akin to OHG. faltan, faldan, G. falten, Icel. falda, Dan. folde, Sw. fålla, Goth. fal, cf. Gr.pu 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. Hebrews 1:12.

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.

Defn: 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 6:34.

fold Fold, n. Etym: [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. Etym: [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 10:16. 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.

Defn: To confine in a fold, as sheep.

fold Fold, v. i.

Defn: To confine sheep in a fold. [R.] The star that bids the shepherd fold. Milton. ---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary.

Fold - An enclosure for flocks to rest together (Isaiah 13:20). Sheep-folds are mentioned Numbers 32:16, Numbers 32:24, Numbers 32:36; 2 Samuel 7:8; Zephaniah 2:6; John 10:1, etc. It was prophesied of the cities of Ammon (Ezekiel 25:5), Aroer (Isaiah 17:2), and Judea, that they would be folds or couching-places for flocks. "Among the pots," of the Authorized Version (Psalms 68:13), is rightly in the Revised Version, "among the sheepfolds."