foliate
Americanadjective
verb (used without object)
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to put forth leaves.
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to split into thin leaflike layers or laminae.
verb (used with object)
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to shape like a leaf or leaves.
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to decorate with foils or foliage.
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to form into thin sheets.
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to spread over with a thin metallic backing.
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Printing. to number the folios or leaves, as distinguished from pages, of (a manuscript or book).
adjective
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relating to, possessing, or resembling leaves
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in combination
trifoliate
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(of certain metamorphic rocks, esp schists) having the constituent minerals arranged in thin leaflike layers
verb
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(tr) to ornament with foliage or with leaf forms such as foils
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to hammer or cut (metal) into thin plates or foil
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(tr) to coat or back (glass, etc) with metal foil
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(tr) to number the leaves of (a book, manuscript, etc) Compare paginate
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(intr) (of plants) to grow leaves
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of foliate
First recorded in 1620–30, foliate is from the Latin word foliātus leafy. See folium, -ate 1
Vocabulary lists containing foliate
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
A gold cuff thought to have been decoration on a royal stool is embossed with lavish foliate patterns suggestive of leaves on a kum tree, a type of banyan for which Kumasi is named.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 5, 2024
The design featured a foliate design on an "ornate aubergine coloured" background, the catalogue said.
From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2023
They are normally described by art historians as foliate heads, and they are, essentially, a decorative trope.
From Slate ● Apr. 8, 2023
The works reference Art Nouveau’s mimicry of foliate forms — only, in this case, they’re literally composed of leaves.
From New York Times ● Oct. 12, 2021
A popular treatment of the stall was the foliate mask; stems issuing from the mouth of the mask and developing into leaves and vines.
From Arts and Crafts in the Middle Ages A Description of Mediaeval Workmanship in Several of the Departments of Applied Art, Together with Some Account of Special Artisans in the Early Renaissance by Addison, Julia de Wolf Gibbs
These crystalline changes create identifying textures, which is shown in the figure below comparing the phaneritic texture of igneous granite with the foliated texture of metamorphic gneiss.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2017
Boxwood: English boxwood is bright green and densely foliated with rounded leaves.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 9, 2016
If the hornfels formed in a situation without directed pressure, then these minerals would be randomly orientated, not foliated as they would be if formed with directed pressure.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2015
Even if formed during regional metamorphism, quartzite does not tend to be foliated because quartz crystals don’t align with the directional pressure.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2015
The nave pillars have Purbeck marble shafts, with beautifully foliated capitals, and the clerestory is pierced with seventeen small archlets, alternately blind and light.
From Highways and Byways in Cambridge and Ely by Conybeare, Edward
The ash was foliating on the 29th of April, the oak on the 28th.
From The Delectable Duchy by Quiller-Couch, Arthur Thomas, Sir
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
