foyle

Verb (1)

foil (third-person singular simple present foils, present participle foiling, simple past and past participle foiled)

1. (transitive) To cover or wrap with foil.

Verb (2)

foil (third-person singular simple present foils, present participle foiling, simple past and past participle foiled)

1. To prevent (something) from being accomplished.
   • They foiled my plans.

   Synonyms:

   put the kibosh on, scupper, thwart

2. To prevent (someone) from accomplishing something.
   • I was foiled by my superior
3. To blunt; to dull; to spoil.
   • they foil the scent of one another.1711 August 10 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison], “MONDAY, July 31, 1711”, in The Spectator, number (please specify the issue number); republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a...

   Synonyms:

   mar, mess up, vitiate, ball up, blight, bumble, botch, bugger up, bungle, contaminate

4. (obsolete) To tread underfoot; to trample.
   • King Richard […] caused the ensigns of Leopold to be pulled down and foiled underfoot.1603, Richard Knolles, The Generall Historie of the Turkes

Verb (3)

foil (third-person singular simple present foils, present participle foiling, simple past and past participle foiled)

1. To expand a product of two or more algebraic expressions, typically binomials.

See all 23 meanings of foil