Fold /(fōld)/

imp. & p. p. Folded; p. pr. & vb. n. Folding

1. 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.

2. To double or lay together, as the arms or the hands; as, he folds his arms in despair.
3. To inclose within folds or plaitings; to envelop; to infold; to clasp; to embrace.

   A face folded in sorrow.

   We will descend and fold him in our arms.

4. To cover or wrap up; to conceal.

   Nor fold my fault in cleanly coined excuses.

1. 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. 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.

   Folds are most common in the rocks of mountainous regions.

2. 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.
3. That which is folded together, or which infolds or envelops; embrace.

   Shall from your neck unloose his amorous fold.

1. An inclosure for sheep; a sheep pen.

   Leaps o'er the fence with ease into the fold.

2. A flock of sheep; figuratively, the Church or a church; as, Christ's fold.

   There shall be one fold and one shepherd.

   The very whitest lamb in all my fold.

3. A boundary; a limit. [Obs.]

1. To confine in a fold, as sheep.

1. To confine sheep in a fold. [R.]

   The star that bids the shepherd fold.