You can serve as a foil to someone if you show them to be better than you by contrast. If you can't dance but your friend Lisa can, you can be a foil to Lisa's grace.
To tread under foot; to trample.
Noun
a light slender flexible sword tipped by a button
Noun
a piece of thin and flexible sheet metal; "the photographic film was wrapped in foil"
Noun
picture consisting of a positive photograph or drawing on a transparent base; viewed with a projector
Noun
a device consisting of a flat or curved piece (as a metal plate) so that its surface reacts to the water it is passing through; "the fins of a fish act as hydrofoils"
Noun
anything that serves by contrast to call attention to another thing''s good qualities; "pretty girls like plain friends as foils"
Verb
cover or back with foil; "foil mirrors"
Verb
hinder or prevent (the efforts, plans, or desires) of; "What ultimately frustrated every challenger was Ruth''s amazing September surge"; "foil your opponent"
Verb
enhance by contrast; "In this picture, the figures are foiled against the background"
v. t.
To tread under foot; to trample.
v. t.
To render (an effort or attempt) vain or nugatory; to
baffle; to outwit; to balk; to frustrate; to defeat.
v. t.
To blunt; to dull; to spoil; as, to foil the scent in
chase.
v. t.
To defile; to soil.
n.
Failure of success when on the point of attainment; defeat;
frustration; miscarriage.
n.
A blunt weapon used in fencing, resembling a smallsword in
the main, but usually lighter and having a button at the point.
n.
The track or trail of an animal.
n.
A leaf or very thin sheet of metal; as, brass foil; tin foil;
gold foil.
n.
A thin leaf of sheet copper silvered and burnished, and
afterwards coated with transparent colors mixed with isinglass; --
employed by jewelers to give color or brilliancy to pastes and inferior
stones.
n.
Anything that serves by contrast of color or quality to adorn
or set off another thing to advantage.
n.
A thin coat of tin, with quicksilver, laid on the back of a
looking-glass, to cause reflection.
n.
The space between the cusps in Gothic architecture; a rounded
or leaflike ornament, in windows, niches, etc. A group of foils is
called trefoil, quatrefoil, quinquefoil, etc., according to the number
of arcs of which it is composed.
Foil
King Richard . . . caused the ensigns of Leopold to be pulled down and foiled under foot.
Whom he did all to pieces breake and foyle, In filthy durt, and left so in the loathely soyle.2.
And by mortal man at length am foiled.
Her long locks that foil the painter's power.3.
Foil
Foil
Nor e'er was fate so near a foil.2.
Blunt as the fencer's foils, which hit, but hurt not.
?socrates contended with a foil against Demosthenes with a word.3.
Foil
As she a black silk cap on him began To set, for foil of his milk-white to serve.
Hector has a foil to set him off.4.
To tread under foot; to trample.
To defile; to soil.
Failure of success when on the point of attainment; defeat; frustration; miscarriage.
A leaf or very thin sheet of metal;
Usage Examples
It's not common for a woman on television, especially if she's the mom of the family, to be funny. She's usually a straight man or foil.
Misspelled Formfoil, dfoil, rfoil, tfoil, gfoil, vfoil, cfoil, doil, roil, toil, goil, voil, coil, fdoil, froil, ftoil, fgoil, fvoil, fcoil, fioil, f9oil, f0oil, fpoil, floil, fiil, f9il, f0il, fpil, flil, foiil, fo9il, fo0il, fopil, folil, fouil, fo8il, fo9il, fooil, fojil, fokil, foul, fo8l, fo9l, fool, fojl, fokl, foiul, foi8l, foi9l, foiol, foijl, foikl, foikl, foiol, foipl, foi:l, foik, foio, foip, foi:, foilk, foilo, foilp, foil:.
Other Usage ExamplesWe can't gather the intelligence we need to foil future attacks, if we are blindly granting terrorists the right to remain silent. But for some reason, we've already done that - with the terrorist who tried to bring down Flight 253.
If you really want to diminish a candidate, depict him as the foil of his handler. This is as old in American politics as politics itself.
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