foist 
foist 2 t (foist), H. [A particular use of foist 1 .] 
1. A sly trick; a juggle; an imposition. 
Put not your foists upon me ; I shall scent them. 
B. Jonson, Volpone, iii. 0. 
2. A cheat; a sharper. 3. Acutpurse; a pick- 
pocket. Also foister, 
He that picks the pocket is called a foist. 
Dekker, Belman of London. 
ffol. Foi.lt! what's that? 
MM. A diver with two fingers, a pickpocket. 
Middleton and Dekker, Roaring Girl, v. 1. 
foist 2 (foist), v. t. [(foisft, re.] 1. To work in by 
a trick; thrust in wrongfully, surreptitiously, 
or without warrant; insert or obtrude fraudu- 
lently or by imposition; pass or palm off as 
genuine or worthy: followed by in or into be- 
fore the thing affected, and by upon before the 
person: as, to foist a spurious document upon 
one. 
This gentleman, being a follower of . . . the chancellor, 
was by him (as it seemed) fainted into that seruice of pur- 
pose. Hakluyt's Voyages, I. 469. 
Our dates are brief, and therefore we admire 
What thou [Time] Host foist upon us that is old. 
Shak., Sonnets, cxxiii. 
The misgrowth of infectious mistletoe 
Foisted into his stock for honest graft. 
Browning, Ring and Book, I. '226. 
The provisional authorities partly self-elected, partly 
voted in by acclamation, partly foisted in by low and im- 
pudent intrigue had proclaimed a republic. 
W. R. Greg, Misc. Essays, 2d ser., p. 11. 
2f. To falsify or make fraudulent by some in- 
sertion; cog, as a die. 
Thou cogging, 
Base, foystiny lawyer. 
Dri/den, Misc., III. 339. 
foist 3 (foist), v. i. [E. dial., another form (by 
confusion with foist 1 ) of fusfi, q. v. ; sofoisty 
for fusty.} To smell musty : same as/s 2 . 
foist 3 (foist), a. Same as foisty. [Prov. Eng.] 
foist 4 t (foist), n. [Altered (like /owrfS for/as* 2 ) 
< OF. fuste, "a foist, a light galley that hath 
about 16 or 18 oares on a side, and two rowers to 
an oare" (Cotgrave), a particular use of fuste, a 
cask: see fust 1 .] A light and fast-sailing ship. 
Foyst, a bote like a gallye. Palsgrave. 
A Foist is as it were a Brigandine, being somewhat 
larger then halfe a galley. Hakluyt's Voyages, II. 128. 
220 gallies, with five course of oares on a side, and twenty 
foists were set aflote. Holland, tr. of Livy, p. 402. 
foister (fois'ter), n. \_<.fois& + -er 1 .] 1. One 
who foists, or inserts without authority. 2f. 
Same as/oisi 2 , 3. 
These able are at neede to stande and keepe stake, 
When facing foisters fit for Tiburne fraies 
Are food-sick faint, or hart sicke run their waies. 
Mir. for Mags., p. 483. 
foistiedt (fois'tid), a. [< foisty, a., + -ed?.] 
Made fusty or musty. 
foistinesst (fois'ti-nes), . Fustiness ; musti- 
uess. 
Such wheat as ye keep for the baker to buy, 
Untln-eshed till March, in the sheaf let it lie ; 
Lest foistinesx take it, if sooner ye thresh it, 
Although by oft turning ye seem to refresh It. 
Tusser, Husbandry, November. 
foistingt (fois'ting), n. [Verbal n. offoistf, v.~] 
1. The act of using foists or tricking. 2. Pock- 
et-pieking. 
2301 
Anone our kynge, with that word, 
He folde up his sieve. 
Lytcll Geste of Kobyn llode (Child's Ballads, V. 115). 
While they [the Lord's enemies] befolden together as 
thorns, . . . they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry. 
Nahum i. 10. 
Now folds the lily all her sweetness up 
And slips into the bosom of the lake. 
Tennyson, Princess, vii. 
2. To bring together or place over each other, 
as two correlated parts : as, to fold together the 
ends of a piece of cloth ; to fold one's arms or 
one's hands. 
Conscious of its own impotence, it folds its amis in de- 
spair. Collier. 
Viola sat aloof, with her beautiful arms folded and her ff.1 J2 
IT i ., ., j TV I '-, PilirT-fm n rld't iVAl* 
head averted. 
H. James, Jr., Pass. Pilgrim, p. 343. 
folded 
This is most strange ! 
That she, who even now was your best object, . . . 
The best, the dearest, should in this trice of time 
Commit a thing so monstrous, to dismantle 
So many folds of favour ! Shak., Lear, i. 1. 
Our author . . . understood the folds and doubles of 
Sylla's disposition. Dryden, Plutarch. 
5. A clasp ; an embrace. [Bare.] 
The weak wanton Cupid 
Shall from your neck unloose his amorous fold. 
Shak., T. and C., iii. 3. 
6. A sheaf or bundle, as of straw. [North. Eng.] 
Amnlotic folds. See amnion. Aryteno-epiglottic, 
branchial, cervical, duodenal, elytral, epipleural, 
esophageal, Haverslan, hypopharyngeal, etc., fold. 
See the adjectives. 
[< ME. fold, earlier fald, Sc. 
3. fald, falod, a fold, stall (for 
< 
3. To inclose jn ajold or in folds; wrap up; s, neep! deer, horses, etc.), = MLG. valt, valt, an 
cover up or hide away 
"Cortayse quen," thenne s[a]yde that gaye, 
Knelande to grounde,/oWe vp hyr face, 
"Makeles moder & myryest may, 
Blessed bygynuer of vch a grace ! " 
Alliterative Poems (ed. Morris), i. 434. 
Cay open to my earthy gross conceit . . . 
The folded meaning of your words' deceit. 
Shak.,C. of E., iii. 2. 
These businesses were not ended till many years after, 
nor well understood of a longe time, but /(raided up in oh- 
scuritie. Bradford, Plymouth Plantation, p. 276. 
Her [Britannia's] armed fleet she sends 
To Climates/oided yet from human Eye. 
Prior, Solomon, i. 
She, with slim hand/oWed in her gown, 
Went o'er the dewy grass to where he stood. 
William Morris, Earthly Paradise, III. 116. 
4. To inclose in or as in the arms; embrace. 
We will descend and/oid him in our arms. 
"*., Rich. II., i.S. 
5t. To throw down; overthrow; cause to yield. 
That no mon scholde hym lette, 
The feendes strengthe to j 'aide. 
Eyng of Tars, 1. 1117 (Eitson's Metr. Rom., II.). 
Folded or plicate Wings, in entom., wings which, in re- 
pose, are longitudinally doubled one or more times. 
II. intrans. 1 . To become doubled upon it- 
self ; become bent so that one part lies over 
upon another. 
Faults are known to be in a large proportion of cases the 
result of a tendency to fold carried beyond the limit of 
elasticity of the rock. Amer. Jour. Sci., 3d ser., XXX. 208. 
2. To infold; embrace. 
Sleep, weary soul ! the folding arms of night 
For thee are spread. . T. Cooke, Nocturn. 
3f. To yield; give way; fail. 
Vr feithe is frele to ttecche and folde. 
Early Eng. Poems (ed. Furnivall), p. 122. 
Yf he were never so bolde a knyghte, 
Of that worme when he had a syghte, 
His herte began tofolde. 
MS. Cantab., ft. ii. 38, f. 67. (Halliwell.) 
Folding boat, a boat with a hinged frame covered with 
water-tight fabrics, and so arranged that when not in 
use it can be folded and stowed away in a small space. 
Folding chair, door, floor, etc. See the nouns. Fold- 
ing fan, a fan which opens and closes, as distinguished 
from fans of fixed form. Folding stool, a stool or small 
chair which shuts up on hinges or pivots. Compare camp- 
chair, faldstool, and curule chair (under curule). 
fold 1 (fold), re. [< WE. fold, folde (not in AS.) = -fold. 
inclo'sed space, a yard. The AS. form falod, 
which occurs only in a gloss, suggests a connec- 
tion with the gloss "fala, tabula," i. e., a board ; 
cf. Icel. fjol (pl.fjalar, later fjalir) = Dan.jjfri 
= Svr.fjol, a board, plank; falod (orig. a neut. 
pp.?) would thus mean lit. an inclosure of boards 
or palings. Dan. fold is appar. from the E. ; 
Sw. f&lla, a hurdle, a fold, is not related, but 
goes with fold 1 , ] 1 . A place of protection or in- 
closure for domestic animals, usually for sheep. 
The fold stands empty in the drowned Held, 
And crows are fatted with the murrain flock. 
Shak., M. N. D., ii. 2. 
St. Agnes' Eve Ah, bitter chill it was ! . . . 
And silent was the flock in woolly fold. 
Keats, Eve of St. Agnes, i. 
Hence 2. A flock of sheep. 
The hope and promise of my failing fold. 
Dryden, tr. of Virgil. 
3t. A limit ; a boundary. 
Secure from meeting, they're distinctly rolled ; 
Nor leave their seats, and pass the dreadful fold. 
Creech. 
4. A farm-yard. [Prov. Eng.] 5. The inclo- 
sure of a farm-house. [Prov. Eng.] 
The room, furnished for himself in an old Yorkshire 
fold. Contemporary Rev., L. 306. 
fold 2 (fold), v. [< fold?, .] I. trans. To con- 
fine, as sheep, in a fold. 
These happy pair of lovers meet straightway, 
Soon as they/o(d their flocks up with the day. 
Fletcher, Faithful Shepherdess, ii. 3. 
While to my ear from uplands far away 
The bleating of the folded flocks is borne. 
M. Arnold, Scholar-Gipsy. 
II. intrans. To confine sheep in a fold. [Bare.] 
The star that bids the shepherd fold, 
Now the top of heaven doth hold. 
Milton, Comus, 1. 93. 
fold 3 t, n. [ME., also folde; < AS. folde, the 
earth.] The earth ; earth. 
He jaf to the kowherde a kastel ful nobul, 
The fairest vpon fold that euer freke seie. 
William of Palerne(E. E. T. S.), 1. 5382. 
He that hyje is in heuen his aungels that weldes ; 
If he hata formed the folde & folk ther vpone, 
I haf bigged Babiloyne, burj alther-rychest. 
Alliterative Poems (ed. Morris), ii. 1665. 
[< ME. -fold, -fald, < AS. -feald = OS. 
A pickpocket ; all his train study the figging law : that's 
10 say, cutting of purses and foisting. 
Middleton and Dekker, Roaring Girl, v. 1. 
foisting-houndt, n. Same as fisting-nonnd. 
foistyt (fois'ti), a. [Another form of fusty, as 
foists for fust 2 : see fusty.] Fusty; musty; 
moldy. 
Look well to thy horses in stable thou must, 
That hay be not foisty, nor chatf full of dust. 
Tusser, Husbandry, December. 
foltj n. and a. A Middle English form of fool 1 . 
fol. An abbreviation of folio. 
folcland (AS. pron. folk'land), n. The Anglo- 
Saxon form offolJcland. 
fold 1 (fold), v. [< ME. folden, falden, < AS. 
fealdan (pret. fedld, pi. feoldon, pp. fealden), 
fold, wrap up, = OD. vouden, D. vouwen OHG. 
faldan, faltan, MHG. valten, G. fatten = Icel. 
falda = Sw. f&lla = Dan. folde = Goth, falthan, 
fold. Akin to -fold, q. v. Not akin to L. pli- 
care, fold, plectere, Gr. -rrMKuv, weave, plait: 
see plait.'] I. trans. 1. To double over upon 
itself; lay or bring one part of over or toward 
another by bending ; bend over: used of things 
thin and flexible, or relatively so, as a piece of 
cloth, a sheet of paper, a stratum of rock, etc. : 
often with up. 
An or than we rose from the borde the warden rose 
from ye borde, and toke a basyn full of folden papres with 
relyques in eche of them. 
Sir R. Guylforde, Pylgrymage, p. 39. 
65. voude'T>. vouw = 6HG."fald,falt, m., MHG. -fald = OFries. -fald = D. -votid = OHG. -fait, 
valde,valte,f.,valt,m.,Gr.falte,f., = leel. falda, MHG. -valt, G. -fait = Icel. -faldr = Sw. -fald 
f.,faldr, m., = Svr.fall, m., = Dan. folde, fold = Dan. -fold = Goth, -faiths, a multiplicative 
(cf. OF. faude = Pr. falda, fauda = Sp. falda, suffix (connected with AS. fealdan, K row, 
halda = It. falda, of G. origin), a fold, etc.; etc.; cf. L. duplex (duplic-), etc., with plicare, 
from the verb.] 1 . A double or bend in a more fold), = Gr. -mzArof (in rfiVaXrof = AS. twifeald, 
or less flexible substance, as cloth; a flexure, E. twofold, rp'ma^roq = AS. thryfeald, E. three- 
especially one so extensive as to bring the parts fold, etc.), commonly in secondary form -Trtamo? 
on either side of the line of bending near toge- (in SmUnm;, twofold, etc.), orig. *-7ro/no?, per- 
ther. haps akin to -irUof, -v^ovg = L. -plus, as in Gr. 
The habit of a man or of a woman, which appeared to 
us in one uniform colour, variously folded and shaded, 
would present to his eye [that of a man newly made to 
see] neither fold nor shade, but variety of colour. 
Reid, Inq. into Human Mind, vi. 3. 
2. The parts which are brought together by 
bending or folding, or one of them; specifically, 
a plait in a garment or in drapery: as, a broad 
fold of cloth. 
That remedy 
Must be a winding-sheet, a fold of lead, 
And some untrod-on corner of the earth. 
Ford, Broken Heart, iii. 5. 
Let the draperies be nobly spread upon the body, and 
let the folds be large. 
Dryden, tr. of Dufresnoy's Art of Painting. 
Down-droop'd, in many a floating/oW, 
Engarlanded and diaper'd 
With inwrought flowers, a cloth of gold. 
Tennyson, Arabian Knights. 
3. Inentom., a plica or ridge, generally inclined 
;, Smhovf (whence E. diploe, etc.) = L. du- 
plus (whence ult. E. duple, double).'] A multi- 
plicative suffix, attached to numerals, as in two- 
fold, threefold, fourfold, etc., in algebra n-fold, 
etc., signifying 'two, three, four, etc., n, etc., 
times as much ' ; so in many-fold, of which the 
older form, with modified meaning, remains in 
manifold. 
foldage 1 (fol'daj), n. [< fold 1 + -age.] In her., 
the doubling or turning over of a mantle or 
mantlet, or of the ribbon on which the motto 
is written. In the former sense also called 
doubling. 
foldage 2 ! (fol'daj), n. [< fold? + -age.] Same 
fold-courset, n. 1. Land used as a sheep-walk. 
2. Land to which is appurtenant the sole 
right of folding the cattle of others. 3. This 
. ., , right of folding. 
to one side, appearing as if the surface had been foldet, foldent. Obsolete strong past partici- 
folded. 4. pi. Involved parts of a complex pies of fold 1 . Chaucer. 
whole; windings; a complex arrangement or folded (fol'ded), p. a. In zoiil., same as coni- 
constitution ; intricacy. pressed (a) (2). 
