foliage
nounUK /ˈfəʊliɪdʒ/ · US /ˈfoʊliɪd͡ʒ/
Etymology From earlier foilage, from Late Middle English ffoylage, from Middle French feuillage. The more recent form is influenced by Latin folium (“leaf”).
1
The leaves of plants.
- Breezes blowing from beds of iris quickened her breath with their perfume; she saw the tufted lilacs sway in the wind, and the streamers of mauve-tinted wistaria swinging, all a-glisten with golden bees; she saw a crimson cardinal winging through the foliage, and amorous tanagers flashing like scarlet flames athwart the pines.1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, “Afterglow”, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC, page 168:
2
Abbreviation Fall foliage.
3
An architectural ornament representing foliage.
- Derived terms
- foliaged, foliage-gleaner, foliage leaf, foliagelike, foliageous, foliologist, snowliage