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folio

[foh-lee-oh]
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noun, plural fo·li·os.
  1. a sheet of paper folded once to make two leaves, or four pages, of a book or manuscript.
  2. a volume having pages of the largest size, formerly made from such a sheet.
  3. a leaf of a manuscript or book numbered only on the front side.
  4. a case that, when closed, covers and protects both the screen and the back panel of a mobile device, as a tablet or smartphone.
  5. Printing.
    1. (in a book) the number of each page.
    2. (in a newspaper) the number of each page together with the date and the name of the newspaper.
  6. Bookkeeping. a page of an account book or a left-hand page and a right-hand page facing each other and having the same serial number.
  7. Law. a certain number of words, in the U.S. generally 100, taken as a unit for computing the length of a document.
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adjective
  1. pertaining to or having the format of a folio: a folio volume.
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verb (used with object), fo·li·oed, fo·li·o·ing.
  1. to number each leaf or page of.
  2. Law. to mark each folio in (a pleading or the like) with the proper number.
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Origin of folio

1525–35; < Latin foliō (orig. in phrase in foliō in a leaf, sheet), ablative of folium folium

folio verso

[foh-lee-oh vur-soh; Latin foh-lee-oh wer-soh]
noun
  1. the back of the page; verso (opposed to folio recto).
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Origin of folio verso

From Latin
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

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British Dictionary definitions for folio

folio

noun plural -lios
  1. a sheet of paper folded in half to make two leaves for a book or manuscript
  2. a book or manuscript of the largest common size made up of such sheets
  3. a leaf of paper or parchment numbered on the front side only
  4. a page number in a book
  5. law a unit of measurement of the length of legal documents, determined by the number of words, generally 72 or 90 in Britain and 100 in the US
  6. NZ a collection of related material
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adjective
  1. relating to or having the format of a folioa folio edition
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verb -lios, -lioing or -lioed
  1. (tr) to number the leaves of (a book) consecutively
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Word Origin

C16: from Latin phrase in foliō in a leaf, from folium leaf
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for folio

n.

mid-15c., from Late Latin folio "leaf or sheet of paper," from Latin folio, ablative of folium "leaf," from PIE *bhulyom "leaf" (cf. Greek phyllon "leaf," Gaelic bile "leaflet, blossom"), from root *bhel- (2) "to blow, inflate, swell" (see bole). Ablative of location, because this was used in page references. Meaning "volume of the largest size" first attested 1620s.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper