Etymology The verb is from Middle English folden, from Old English fealdan, from Proto-West Germanic *falþan, from Proto-Germanic *falþaną (“to fold”), from Proto-Indo-European *pel- (“to fold”). Cognate with Dutch vouwen, German falten. The noun is from Middle English folde, falde, itself derived from the verb.
To bend (any thin material, such as paper) over so that it comes in contact with itself.
Next, fold the paper over, so the right half is on top of the left half.
The newspaper was folded under his arm.
2
To make the proper arrangement (in a thin material) by bending.
If you fold the sheets, they'll fit more easily in the drawer.
The clothes were folded by the housekeeper.
3
To draw or coil (one’s arms, a snake’s body, etc.) around something so as to enclose or embrace it.
4
Cooking, Food, Lifestyle To stir (semisolid ingredients) gently, with an action as if folding over a solid.
Fold the egg whites into the batter.
8 Jan 2020, Felicity Cloake in The Guardian, How to make the perfect gluten-free chocolate brownies – recipe if you want to make life really easy for yourself, may I point you in the direction of Sunflour’s recipe, which folds four eggs and 150g ground almonds into 500g chocolate spread.
5
To become folded; to form folds.
Cardboard doesn't fold very easily.
6
Informal To fall over; to collapse or give way; to be crushed.
The chair folded under his enormous weight.
7
To give way on a point or in an argument.
He folded that point and didn't bring it up again.
He kept saying it was my fault, but when I brought up Sausalito, he folded.
To enclose in a fold of material, to swathe, wrap up, cover, enwrap.
15
To enclose within folded arms, to clasp, to embrace (see also enfold).
He put out his arms and folded her to his breast. And for a while she lay there sobbing. He looked at us over her bowed head, with eyes that blinked damply above his quivering nostrils. His mouth was set as steel.1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, Westminster [London]: Archibald Constable and Company, […], →OCLC:
I will not poyſon thee with my attaint, / Nor fold my fault in cleanly coin’d excuſes, / My ſable ground of ſinne I will not paint, / To hide the truth of this falſe nights abuſes.1594, William Shakespeare, Lucrece (First Quarto), London: […] Richard Field, for Iohn Harrison, […], →OCLC:
Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Sciences To split (a line of text) across multiple lines, to obey line length limitations.
Etymology The verb is from Middle English folden, from Old English fealdan, from Proto-West Germanic *falþan, from Proto-Germanic *falþaną (“to fold”), from Proto-Indo-European *pel- (“to fold”). Cognate with Dutch vouwen, German falten. The noun is from Middle English folde, falde, itself derived from the verb.
give the bedsheets a fold before putting them in the cupboard.
After two reraises in quick succession, John realised his best option for this poker hand was probably a fold.
2
Any correct move in origami.
› That which is folded together, or which…
3
A bend or crease.
[…] There sat the Shadow fear’d of man; Who broke our fair companionship, And spread his mantle dark and cold; And wrapt thee formless in the fold, […]1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XXII”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 37:
4
A layer, typically of folded or wrapped cloth.
[…] the Ancient Ægyptian Mummies, were ſhrowded in a Number of Folds of Linnen, beſmeared with Gummes, in manner of Seare-Cloth; […]1631, Francis [Bacon], “VIII. Century.”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], 3rd edition, London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC, paragraph 771, page 194:
5
A clasp, embrace.
[…] the weake wanton Cupid Shall from your necke vnlooſe his amorous fould, […]c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii]:
A gentle curve of the ground; gentle hill or valley.
10
Geography, Geology, Natural sciences The bending or curving of one or a stack of originally flat and planar surfaces, such as sedimentary strata, as a result of plastic (i.e. permanent) deformation.
The folds are most abrupt to the eastward; to the west, they diminish in boldness, and become gentle undulations1863, James Dwight Dana, Manual of Geology:
11
Journalism, Media, Newspapers The division between the top and bottom halves of a broadsheet: headlines above the fold will be readable in a newsstand display; usually the fold.
Newspaper editors know the importance of putting the most important information “above the fold,” that is, visible when the paper is folded and on the rack.2007, Jennifer Niederst Robbins, Learning Web Design: A Beginner's Guide to (X)HTML, StyleSheets, and Web Graphics, "O'Reilly Media, Inc.", →ISBN, page 43:
12
Computing, Engineering, Journalism, Mathematics, Media, Natural sciences, Newspapers, Physical sciences, Sciences, Web designBroadly The division between the part of a web page visible in a web browser window without scrolling; usually the fold.
For example, a story that is "page I, above the fold" is considered very important news. In web page design, the fold signifies the place at which the user has to scroll down to get more information.1999, Jared M. Spool, Web Site Usability: A Designer's Guide, Morgan Kaufmann, →ISBN, page 77:
13
Any of a family of higher-order functions that process a data structure recursively to build up a value.
Functional programming
It was Erik Meijer who coined the name hylomorphism to describe a computation that consists of a fold after an unfold. The unfold produces a data structure and the fold consumes it.2010, Richard Bird, Pearls of Functional Algorithm Design, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 168:
14
Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Programming, Sciences A section of source code that can be collapsed out of view in an editor to aid readability.
15
One individual part of something described as manifold, twofold, fourfold, etc.
Etymology 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.
A pen or enclosure for sheep or other domestic animals.
Leaps o're the fence with ease into the fold.1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
2
Any enclosed piece of land belonging to a farm or mill; yard, farmyard.
3
An enclosure or dwelling generally.
4
Collective A group of sheep or goats, particularly those kept in a given enclosure.
Christianity A church congregation, a group of people who adhere to a common faith and habitually attend a given church; also, the Christian church as a whole, the flock of Christ.
And other sheepe I haue, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall heare my voyce; and there shall be one fold, and one shepheard.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, John 10:16:
7
Figuratively A group of people with shared ideas or goals or who live or work together.
Having suffered the loss of Rooney just as he had returned to the fold, Moyes' mood will not have improved as Liverpool took the lead in the third minute.2013 September 1, Phil McNulty, BBC Sport:
Most recently, in his ambitious 2015 book, Leaving the Jewish Fold, Endelman significantly enlarges his purview in both time and space to broadly survey the phenomenon of Jewish conversion from early medieval to postmodern times […]2021, Angela Kuttner Botelho, German Jews and the Persistence of Jewish Identity in Conversion: Writing the Jewish Self, Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG, →ISBN, page 37:
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In a first phase of foreign policy, after 1945, my country sought to regain former enemies’ trust. We are forever grateful that they extended their hand to us, readmitting us into the global fold.2023 July 6, Annalena Baerbock, “Russia’s war on Ukraine has forced us in Germany to think differently about our role in the world”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
“I hope that eventually Elon comes back into the fold. Maybe that’s not possible now because he’s gone so nuclear,” the vice-president said.2025 June 7, Edward Helmore, quoting JD Vance, “Trump warns Musk of ‘very serious consequences’ if he backs Democrats”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
Etymology 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.
1
To confine (animals) in a fold, to pen in.
The star that bids the shepherd fold, Now the top of heaven doth hold.1634 October 9 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), [John Milton], edited by H[enry] Lawes, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: […] [Comus], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for Hvmphrey Robinson, […], published 1637, →OCLC; reprinted as Comus: […] (Dodd, Mead & Company’s Facsimile Reprints of Rare Books; Literature Series; no. I), New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1903, →OCLC:
On the same day [Midsummer Eve] people in the Isle of Man were wont to light fires to the windward of every field, so that the smoke might pass over the corn; and they folded their cattle and carried blazing furze or gorse round them several times.1900, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, volume 3, page 289:
2
Figuratively To include in a spiritual ‘flock’ or group of the saved, etc.
3
To place sheep on (a piece of land) in order to manure it.
Etymology From Middle English folde, from Old English folde (“earth, land, country, district, region, territory, ground, soil, clay”), from Proto-Germanic *fuldǭ, *fuldō (“earth, ground; field; the world”). Cognate with Old Norse fold (“earth, land, field”), Norwegian and Icelandic fold (“land, earth, meadow”).