Chapter Fly-boy to Fond of F by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Foil That which sets off something to advantage. The allusion is to the metallic leaf used by jewellers to set off precious stones. (French, feuille; Latin, folium; Greek, phullon, a leaf.)

"Hector, as a foil to set him off."
Broome.

"I'll be your foil, Laertes. In mine ignorance
Your skill shall, like a star i' the darkest night,
Stick fiery off indeed."
Shakespeare: Hamlet, v. 2.

   He foiled me. He outwitted me.

"If I be foiled, there is but one ashamed who never was gracious." - Shakespeare: As You Like It, i. 2.

   To run a foil. To puzzle; to lead astray. The track of game is called its foil; and an animal hunted will sometimes run back over the same foil in order to mislead its pursuers.

Folio A book of the largest size, formed by folding the paper only once, so that each sheet makes two leaves. It is from the Italian, un libro in foglio, through the French, in-folio. Fol. is the contraction for folio.
   Folio (so-and-so), in mercantile books, means page so-and-so, and sometimes the two pages which lie exposed at the same time, one containing the credit and the other the debit of one and the same account. So called because ledgers, etc., are made in folio. The paging is called the folio also. Printers call a page of MS. or printed matter a folio regardless of size.
   Folio. In conveyances seventy-two words, and in Parliamentary proceedings ninety words, make a folio.

Folk Latin, vulg' (the common people); German, volk; Dutch, volch; Saxon, folc; Danish, folk. Folk and vulgar are variants of the same word.

Folk Fairies, also called "people," "neighbours," "wights." The Germans have their kleine volk (little folk), the Swiss their hill people and earth people.

"The little folk,
So happy and so gay, amuse themselves
Sometimes with singing ...
Sometimes with dancing, when they jump and spring
Like the young skipping kids in the Alp-grass."
Wyss: Idyll of Gertrude and Rosy.

"In the hinder end of harvest, at All-hallow e'en,
When our good neighbours ride, if I read right,
Some buckled on beenwand, and some on a been."
Montgomery: Flyting against Polwart.

"I crouchë thee from the elvës, and from wights."
Chaucer: The Millere's Tale.

Folk-lore Whatever pertains to a knowledge of the antiquities, superstitions, mythology, legends, customs, traditions, and proverbs of a people. A "folklorist" is one who is more or less acquainted with these matters.

Folk-mote [a folk meeting ]. A word used in England before the Conquest for what we now call a county or even a parish meeting.

Follets Goblins of the north of France, who live in the houses of simple rustics, and can be expelled neither by water nor exorcism. They can be heard but are never seen. In the singular number, "esprit follet."

Follow Follow your nose, go straight on. He followed his nose - he went on and on without any discretion or thought of consequences.
   He who follows truth too closely will have dirt kicked in his face. Be not too strict to pry into abuse, for "odium veritas parit," "Summum jus suprema est injuria."

Follower A male sweetheart who follows the object of his affections. A word very common among servants. Mistresses say to female servants, "I allow no followers" - i.e. I do not allow men to come into my house to see you. Also a disciple, a partisan.

"The pretty neat servant-maids had their choice of desirable followers." - E. O. Gaskell: Cranford, chap. iii. p.53.

Folly Father of Folly (Abu Jahl), an aged chief, who led a hundred horse and seven hundred camels against Mahomet and fell at the battle of Bedr. His own people called him Father of Wisdom