FOLD

To lap or lay in plaits or folds; to lay one part over another part of; to double; as, to fold cloth; to fold a letter. As a vesture shalt thou fold them up. Heb. i. 12.

To double or lay together, as the arms or the hands; as, he folds his arms in despair.

To inclose within folds or plaitings; to envelop; to infold; to clasp; to embrace. A face folded in sorrow. J. Webster. We will descend and fold him in our arms. Shak.

To cover or wrap up; to conceal. Nor fold my fault in cleanly coined excuses. Shak.

To become folded, plaited, or doubled; to close over another of the same kind; to double together; as, the leaves of the door fold. 1 Kings vi. 34.

A doubling,esp. of any flexible substance; a part laid over on another part; a plait; a plication. Mummies . . . shrouded in a number of folds of linen. Bacon. Folds are most common in the rocks of mountainous regions. J. D. Dana.

Times or repetitions; -- used with numerals, chiefly in composition, to denote multiplication or increase in a geometrical ratio, the doubling, tripling, etc., of anything; as, fourfold, four times, increased in a quadruple ratio, multiplied by four.

That which is folded together, or which infolds or envelops; embrace. Shall from your neck unloose his amorous fold. Shak. Fold net, a kind of net used in catching birds.

An inclosure for sheep; a sheep pen. Leaps o'er the fence with ease into the fold. Milton.

A flock of sheep; figuratively, the Church or a church; as, Christ's fold. There shall be one fold and one shepherd. John x. 16. The very whitest lamb in all my fold. Tennyson.

A boundary; a limit. [Obs.] Creech. Fold yard, an inclosure for sheep or cattle.

To confine in a fold, as sheep.

To confine sheep in a fold. [R.] The star that bids the shepherd fold. Milton.