Pa. t. and pa. pple. folded. Forms: Infin. 1 fealdan, Northumb. (ȝe)falda, 3–5 fald(e(n, 3–6 folden, (5 -yn), 4 felde, south. viealde, 4–6 south. volde, 5–7 fould, 6–9 Sc. fald, fauld, 9 dial. faud, 5– fold. Pa. t. str. 1 féold, 4–5 feld(e, 6 fald. wk. 4–5 foldid. (5 -et, -it), 6– folded. Pa. pple., str. 1 fealden, 3–7 fold(e(n, (4–6 -in, -un, -yn, 7 foulden), 3 south. volden, 3–4 fald(e(n, (6 fauden), 5 y-falt, folte, (6 falt), fould. wk. 4– foldid, 6–7 foldit, (6 folted), 7 foulded, 4– folded. [Com.Teut. reduplicating strong vb.: OE. fealdan = MDu. vouden (Du. vouwen), OHG. faldan, faltan (MHG. valten, Ger. falten), ON. falda (pa. t. félt), Goth. falþan (pa. t. faifalþ):—OTeut. *falþan, f. *falþ:—pre-Teut. *plt-, found in Lith. pleta I plait, Gr. δί-παλτος, also δι-πλάσιος (:—*-pltiyos) double; according to Brugmann an extended form of the root pl- (in Gr. ἁ-πλό-ος, simple, lit. ‘one-fold’) of which another extension appears in Gr. πλέκ-ειν, L. plicāre to plait, fold. In OE. and early ME. the forms are those of a strong vb.; from 15th c. onwards weak forms were developed, and the vb. is now conjugated entirely as weak; cf. Da. folde.]
1. trans. To arrange (a piece of cloth, a surface, etc.), so that one portion lies reversed over or alongside another; to double or bend over upon itself. Also with in, over, together. Often contextually implying repeated action of this kind. To fold up: to close or bring into a more compact form by repeated folding.
c. 888. K. Ælfred, Boeth., xli. § 3. God scipstyra ongit micelne wind hreose ær ær hit weorþe, and hæt fealdan þæt seȝl.
a. 1000. Riddles, xxvii. 7 (Gr.). Mec [a parchment] fingras feoldon.
a. 1250. Owl & Night., 1324.
| On ape mai a boc bi-halde, | |
| An leves wenden, and eft folde. |
13[?]. Coer de L., 3497.
| Whenne they hadde eeten, the cloth was folde; | |
| Kyng Richard gan hem to beholde. |
1480. Caxton, Chron. Eng., ccxxi. 213. He opened the letter that he had folden afore to geder and red it openly word by word in heryng of hem all.
1535. Coverdale, Ezek. xli. 23. The temple and the holiest of all had ether of them two dores, and euery dore had two litle wickettes which were folden in one vpon another, on euery syde two.
1621. Ainsworth, Annot. Pentat., Exod. xiii. 9. These foure sections (containing in all 30 ver.) written on parchment, folden up, covered with lether, they tyed to the forehead, & to the hand.
1707. Curios. in Husb. & Gard., 87. During … the Night, they join and fold in their Leaves.
1712. Addison, Spect., No. 305, 19 Feb., ¶ 9. Instruct the Students in State Legerdemain, as how to take off the Impression of a Seal, to split a Wafer, to open a Letter, to fold it up again, with other the like ingenious Feats of Dexterity and Art.
1840. Lardner, Geom., 44. If the triangle be conceived to be folded over.
1878. Browning, Poets Croisic, xli.
| Which penned—some forty lines to this effect— | |
| Our René folds his paper, marches brave | |
| Back to the mansion, luminous, erect, | |
| Triumphant, an emancipated slave. |
transf. and fig. 1633. Henry Montagu, Earl of Manchester, Manchester al Mondo (1636), 122. When death hath foulded up thy dayes, all opportunity is past.
1642. Fuller, Holy & Prof. St., II. x. 26. So handsomely folding up her discourse, that his virtues are shown outwards, and his vices wrapped up in silence, as counting it Barbarisme to throw dirt on his memorie who hath moulds cast on his body.
1677. Crowne, Destr. Jerusalem, I. IV. i.
| Since every night their | |
| Bodies were not worn, But gently lapt and folded up till morn. |
1820. Shelley, Let. Gisborne, 243.
| Let his page | |
| Which charms the chosen spirits of the time | |
| Fold itself up for the serener clime | |
| Of years to come. |
Prov.
1622. Malynes, Anc. Law-Merch., 90. They awarded, the great Merchant to pay charges, and willed him to remember the old Prouerbe, Hee that buyeth Lawne before he can fold it, will repent before he hath sold it.
b. Geol. To double up (strata). Also intr. for refl. To become doubled up.
1857. Livingstone, Trav., xxviii. 570. Dykes of this granite, may be seen thrusting up immense masses of mica schist and quartz or sandstone schist, and making the strata fold over them on each side, as clothes hung upon a line.
1872. C. King, Mountain. Sierra Nev., ix. 185. Its bounding ranges were chiefly blocked out at the period of Jurassic upheaval, when the Sierra Nevada and Wahsatch mountains were folded.
1885. G. F. Becker, Impact Friction and Faulting, in Amer. Jrnl. Sc., Ser. III. xxx. 208. Faults are known to be in a large proportion of cases the result of a tendency to fold carried beyond the limit of elasticity of the rock.
c. To bend or turn back or down (a portion of something). † To fold off: to bend back and break off.
c. 1420. Pallad. on Husb., III. 774.
| Or me sette him [a graft] in the tree | |
| The tendron and the leves of thou folde. |
d. Building. (See quot. s.v. FOLD sb.3 1 g.)
e. intr. To yield to pressure, so as to become folded; to be capable of being folded.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVII. xxvii. (1495), 620. That cassia is best that brekyth not soone but bendyth and foldeth.
1793. Smeaton, Edystone L., § 194. Having a joint in the middle, it [the ladder] folds, and is laid along in the entry.
† f. trans. To roll up, as a scroll. Obs.
1382. Wyclif, Luke iv. 20. Whanne he hadde closid [v.r. folded, or closed] the book.
c. 1400. St. Alexius (Laud, 622), 932. A book in his honde he halt Swiþe fast, & narewe yfalt.
1561. Daus, trans. Bullinger on Apoc. (1573), 283. Heauen fled backe, and was folden vp lyke a scrolle.
2. trans. To place in a spiral or sinuous form; to coil, wind. Now only with const. about, round, or the like. Also intr. for refl.
1579. Tomson, Calvin’s Serm. Tim., 346/2. Bicause we can not come to God, vnlesse we doe put off our wicked affections and lustes, and all the rest of our nature, therefore the deceiuers double and folde in them selues like serpents.
c. 1650. Merline, 1464, in Furniv., Percy Folio, I. 467.
| Beneathe the stones vnder the Mold | |
| tow dragons Lyen there fould. |
1816. J. Wilson, City of Plague, II. iv.
| Hush! hush! my Frankfort! thus I fold one arm | |
| Round thy blest neck, and with the other thus | |
| I touch the silent dead! |
1833. Tennyson, Poems, Sonnet, 6.
| Might I but kiss thy hand! I dare not fold | |
| My arms about thee—scarcely dare to speak. | |
| Ibid. (1842), Talking Oak, 148. | |
| Yet seem’d the pressure thrice as sweet | |
| As woodbine’s fragile hold, | |
| Or when I feel about my feet | |
| The berried briony fold. | |
| Ibid. (1842), The Day-dream, The Departure, i. | |
| On her lover’s arm she leant, | |
| And round her waist she felt it fold, | |
| And far across the hills they went | |
| In that new world which is the old. |
† b. intr. Of a stream: To take a winding course.
c. 1420. Pallad. on Husb., III. 557.
| So that the towne water doune folde | |
| Streght hem amonge. |
† 3. trans. To cause to bend; hence, to throw down, overthrow; also, to overcome. (Cf. mod. double up.) fig. To prevail upon by entreaty.
c. 1205. Lay., 20077.
| Feollen þa uæie | |
| uolden to grunde. |
c. 1330. King of Tars, 1118.
| That no mon scholde hym lette, | |
| The feendes strengthe to folde. |
c. 1430. Syr Tryam., 325.
| Os hyt ys in the story tolde, | |
| xlti. Syr Roger downe can folde. |
† 4. To bend, bow (oneself, the body, or limbs).
a. 1300. Cursor M., 8965 (Cott.). To þe tre sco can hir fald.
c. 1380. Sir Ferumb., 841. Is bodi a-side he felde.
1571. Hanmer, Chron. Irel. (1633), 17. He advanced in his banner, a red Lyon Rampant, with his taile folden toward his backe, as it were moved with anger.
a. 1605. Montgomerie, Misc. Poems, li. 33.
| Gif she had bene into the dayis auld, | |
| Quhen Jupiter the schap of bull did tak, | |
| Befoir Europe quhen he his feit did fauld, | |
| Quhill scho throw courage clam vpon his bak. |
fig. 1578. Ps. lxxvii., in Scot. Poems 16th C., II. 109.
| For Jacob and his hous they sair ouerthraw, | |
| And hes vs left all foldit into cair, | |
| Beleuand for to bring vs to despair. |
† b. intr. for refl. Of the body or limbs: To bend, crook, double up, yield. Also, of a person: To bow, bend down, crouch, drop down. Obs.
13[?]. Maximon, iv., in Rel. Ant., I. 120.
| Care and kunde of elde | |
| Maketh mi body felde, | |
| That y ne mai stonde upright. |
1382. Wyclif, Matt. xvii. 14. A man cam to hym, foldid on knees byfore hym, seyinge Lord, haue mercy on my sone.
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. XX. 120. The fyngres þat freo beo · to folden and to clycchen.
c. 1460. Towneley Myst. (Surtees), 98.
| My legys thay fold, my fyngers ar chappyd, | |
| It is not as I wold, for I am lappyd | |
| In sorow. |
† 5. intr. To give way, collapse; to fail, falter.
a. 1250. Owl & Night., 37.
| Min horte at-flith, and falt mi tonge, | |
| Thonne thu art to me i-thrunge. |
a. 1300. Cursor M., 24348 (Cott.). In suime al falden dun i fell.
c. 1325. Song of Mercy, 136, in E. E. P. (1862), 122. Vr feiþ is frele to flecche and folde.
c. 1430. Hymns Virg. (1867), 73.
| My lymes foulden þat weren fast, | |
| Wiþ staffe in honde now y goo; | |
| My redy speche may not last, | |
| So my teeþ ben fallen me fro. |
1596. Spenser, Hymn Heavenly Beautie, 6.
| I faine to tell the things that I behold, | |
| But feele my wits to faile, and tongue to fold. |
† b. To succumb, yield ground. Obs.
c. 1400. Rowland & O., O. 1250. Charlles, me thynke þat þou scholdeste folde.
1535. Stewart, Cron. Scot., II. 84.
| Thir barbour bodeis that now ar so bald, | |
| Docht nocht of force than for to gar ws fald. |
a. 1625. A. Garden, Theat. Scot. Kings (Abbotsford Club), 14.
| Of th’ Ylanders, thou forced for to fald, | |
| Such as deboir’d from thy Obedience darre. |
† c. To swerve or turn aside (from truth, etc.).
c. 1380. Wyclif, Serm., Sel. Wks., II. 126. He shulde teche þes worldly men to laste sadde in good purpos, and to drede to folde fro treuþe, as Pilat dide, for an yvel cause.
c. 1450. Henryson, Mor. Fab., 42.
| Some abjecting, and some can hald, | |
| For prayer or price trow yee that they wald fald. |
6. trans. To lay (the arms, etc.) together, so as to overlap; to clasp (one’s hands) together. Also intr. for refl.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Gen. xlix. 32. He feold his fet [Vulg. collegit pedes suos] uppan his bedd.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Troylus, IV. 331 (358).
| And with his chiere and lokyng al to-torne | |
| ffor sorwe of this, and with his armes folden. |
1535. Coverdale, Prov. vi. 10. Yee slepe on still a litle, slomber a litle, folde thine handes together yet a litle, that thou mayest slepe: so shal pouerte come vnto the as one yt trauayleth by the waye, & necessite like a wapened man.
1632. Lithgow, Trav., V. 205. Their usage being such that when they come from the horse backe, presently sit downe on the ground, folding their feete under them, when they repose, dine, and sup.
1697. Collier, Est. Mor. Subj., II. (1703), 114. Envy oftentimes wants Spirit, as well as Good-nature: Like a cold Poyson, it benumbs and stupifies. And thus as it were conscious of its own Impotence, it folds its Arms in Despair, and sits Cursing in a Corner.
1732. Berkeley, Alciphr., I. § 5. Alciphron stood over-against us, with his arms folded across, and his head reclined on the left shoulder in the posture of a Man meditating.
1821. Shelley, Prometh. Unb., I. 222.
| My wings are folded o’er mine ears: | |
| My wings are crossed o’er mine eyes: | |
| Yet through their silver shade appears, | |
| And through their lulling plumes arise, | |
| A Shape, a throng of sounds. |
1849. C. Brontë, Shirley, x. 142. She noiselessly paced to and fro the carpeted floor, her head drooped, her hands folded.
1865. Dickens, Mut. Fr., I. ii. She folds her hands in the manner of a supplicating child.
b. ? absol. = To fold the hands (app. given as an uneducated use).
1865. Dickens, Mut. Fr., II. xiv. ‘I’d far sooner be upon my feet and tiring of myself out, than a-sitting folding and folding by the fire.’
† 7. To plait; to mat (hair). Obs.
1382. Wyclif, Matt. xxvii. 29. Thei foldynge a crowne of thornis.
1535. Coverdale, Song Sol., vii. 5. The hayre of thy heade is like the kynges purple folden vp in plates.
1555. Eden, Decades (Arb.), 99. They make certeyne Images of gossampine cotton foulded or wrethed after theyr maner, and harde stopped within.
1563–87. Foxe, A. & M. (1596), 936/2. By means of his manacles he could not comb his head, and he remained so long manicled that his haire was folded togither.
† b. fig. To attach, plight (faith). Obs.
c. 1340. Sir Gawayne and the Green Knight, 1783.
| Bot if ȝe haf a lemman, a leuer, þat yow lykeȝ better, | |
| & folden fayth to þat fre, festned so harde, | |
| Þat you lausen ne lyst. |
† c. intr. To be suitable or accordant. Obs.
c. 1340. Sir Gawayne and the Green Knight, 358.
| Syþen þis note is so nys, þat noȝt hit yow falles, | |
| & I haue frayned hit at yow fyrst, foldeȝ hit to me. | |
| Ibid., 499. | |
| Þe forme to be fynisment foldeȝ ful selden. |
8. To enclose in or as in a fold or folds; to cover or wrap up; to swathe, envelop. Now only const. in; formerly const. with, and simply.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., A. 434. Knelande to grounde, [he] folde vp hyr face.
c. 1394. P. Pl. Crede, 126.
| And seynt Fraunces himself · schall folden the in his cope, | |
| And presente the to the trynitie · and praie for thy synnes. |
c. 1400. Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 168. Þer ben manye maner causis whi þat guttis ben folde with nerves.
1530. Comedy Beauties Women, C j.
| I thynk he be xxiiii. yeres of age, | |
| I saw hym born and holpe for to fold hym. |
1594. Marlowe & Nashe, Dido, I. ii.
| From thence a few of us escap’d to land; | |
| The rest, we fear, are folded in the floods. |
1697. Dryden, Æneid, VII. 495.
| Now like a Fillet to her Head repairs, | |
| And with his Circling Volumes folds her Hairs. |
1707. Curios. in Husb. & Gard., 333. The Seed is the Plant folded and wrapt up.
1854. B. Taylor, Poems Orient, On the Sea (1866), 162.
| The mountain-isles loom large and faint, | |
| Folded in shadows gray, | |
| And the lights of land are setting stars | |
| That soon will pass away. |
fig. 1590. Greene, Orl. Fur., Wks. (Rtldg.), 92/1.
| When Prince Menelaus with all his mates | |
| Had ten years held their siege in Asia, | |
| Folding their wraths in cinders of fair Troy. |
1593. Shaks., Lucr., 1072.
| I will not poyson thee with my attaint, | |
| Nor fold my fault in cleanly coin’d excuses. |
1649. W. Bradford, Plymouth Plant., II. (1856), 276. These bussinesses were not ended till many years after, nor well understood of a longe time, but foulded up in obscuritie.
1878. Gilder, Poet & Master, 36, ‘A Woman’s Thought.’
| Hurt beyond cure,— | |
| Calm and demure | |
| Then must I hold me,— | |
| In myself fold me. |
b. Of the surrounding medium: To serve as a wrapping for. poet.
1592. Shaks., Ven. & Ad., 821.
| So did the mercilesse, and pitchie night, | |
| Fold in the obiect that did feed her sight. |
1793. Southey, Tri. Woman, 389.
| The purple robe of state thy form shall fold, | |
| The beverage sparkle in thy cup of gold. |
1815. W. H. Ireland, Scribbleomania, 15.
| So it chanc’d as I sped on this errand one day, | |
| Of paper a pile on the counter there lay, | |
| Which by weight had been purchas’d, brown sugar to fold, | |
| Tea, soap, butter, cheese, starch, blue, dip or choice mould. |
1830. Tennyson, Dirge, i.
| Shadows of the silver birk | |
| Sweep the green that folds thy grave. | |
| Let them rave. |
† c. Of a hostile army: To surround, beleaguer.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 11262.
| Ȝour self and ȝour cité is set all aboute, | |
| With ȝour fomen fuerse, foldyn with in. |
† d. To wrap or entangle in a snare. Obs.
a. 1592. Greene, Fr. Bacon (1630), 2.
| And in her tresses she doth fold the lookes | |
| Of such as gaze vpon her golden haire. |
1614. Raleigh, Hist. World, II. § 3. 418. These Heathen neighbouring Nations had an easie conquest over Israel, whom God himselfe exposed to those perills, within which they were so speedily folded up.
9. To clasp (in one’s arms, to one’s breast); to embrace.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 24491 (Cott.).
| Quen i him had in armes fald, | |
| þat suet flexs all dri and cald. |
c. 1400. Ywaine & Gaw., 1425.
| With that he hir in armes hent, | |
| And ful faire he gan hir falde. |
1593. Shaks., Rich. II., I. iii. 54. Rich. We will descend and fold him in our armes.
1621. Lady M. Wroth, Urania, 353. Hee strait ran to Philistella, who met him, and together fold in each others armes, sate downe vpon one of the ascents right before the other.
1794. Burns, Lassie wi’ the lint-white locks, iv.
| And should the howling wintry blast | |
| Disturb my lassie’s midnight rest, | |
| I’ll fauld thee to my faithfu’ breast. |
1821. Shelley, Death Napoleon, 21.
| And the lightning of scorn laughed forth | |
| As she sung, ‘To my bosom I fold | |
| All my sons when their knell is knolled, | |
| And so with living motion all are fed, | |
| And the quick spring like weeds out of the dead.’ |
1859. Tennyson, Idylls, Geraint, 97.
| Far better were I laid in the dark earth, | |
| Not hearing any more his noble voice, | |
| Not to be folded more in these dear arms, | |
| And darkened from the high light in his eyes. |
10. Comb.: the vb. stem in comb. with a sb., in sense ‘that can or will fold’; as fold-net, -skirt. Also fold-up a., adapted to be folded-up.
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), Fold-net, a sort of Net with which small Birds are taken in the Night.
1855. Browning, Men & Wom., Saul, 21.
| The tent was unlooped … | |
| I groped my way on, | |
| Till I felt where the foldskirts fly open; | |
| Then once more I prayed, | |
| And opened the foldskirts and entered. |
1894. Wilkins & Vivian, The Green Bay Tree, I. ii. 23. Inside the door was the famous Harrow fold-up bed, which is let down on to the floor when required for use and put back in its musty cupboard during the day.
