1. (v. t.) To tread under foot; to trample.

2. (v. t.) To render (an effort or attempt) vain or nugatory; to baffle; to outwit; to balk; to frustrate; to defeat.

3. (v. t.) To blunt; to dull; to spoil; as, to foil the scent in chase.

4. (v. t.) To defile; to soil.

5. (n.) Failure of success when on the point of attainment; defeat; frustration; miscarriage.

6. (n.) A blunt weapon used in fencing, resembling a small sword in the main, but usually lighter and having a button at the point.

7. (n.) The track or trail of an animal.

8. (n.) A leaf or very thin sheet of metal; as, brass foil; tin foil; gold foil.

9. (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.

10. (n.) Anything that serves by contrast of color or quality to adorn or set off another thing to advantage.

11. (n.) A thin coat of tin, with quicksilver, laid on the back of a looking-glass, to cause reflection.

12. (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.

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