folio

[foh-lee-oh]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR folio ON THESAURUS.COM

noun, plural fo·li·os.

a sheet of paper folded once to make two leaves, or four pages, of a book or manuscript.

a volume having pages of the largest size, formerly made from such a sheet.

a leaf of a manuscript or book numbered only on the front side.

a case that, when closed, covers and protects both the screen and the back panel of a mobile device, as a tablet or smartphone.

Printing.

(in a book) the number of each page.
(in a newspaper) the number of each page together with the date and the name of the newspaper.

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.

Law. a certain number of words, in the U.S. generally 100, taken as a unit for computing the length of a document.

adjective

pertaining to or having the format of a folio: a folio volume.

verb (used with object), fo·li·oed, fo·li·o·ing.

to number each leaf or page of.

Law. to mark each folio in (a pleading or the like) with the proper number.

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

the back of the page; verso (opposed to folio recto).

Origin of folio verso

From Latin

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for folio

sheet, sum, total, figure, statistic, plate, layer, leaf, coat, blanket, surface, foil, piece, slab, essay, album, novel, publication, dictionary, pamphlet

Examples from the Web for folio

Contemporary Examples of folio

Like yacht and horse racing, wine making is a wildly expensive proposition, says Michael Mondavi, founder of Folio Wines.
Billionaire Divorcee's Happy Ending
Sandra McElwaine
January 24, 2011

Historical Examples of folio

The Rector spoke with an obvious effort, got his hand off the page and closed the folio.
The Incomplete Amorist
E. Nesbit
I would not take my folio paper for this epistle, and now I repent it.
The Letters of Robert Burns
Robert Burns
Nor can we regard as aught other such terms as 'leaf' or 'folio,' which is also 'leaf.'
Continental Monthly, Vol. III, No IV, April 1863
Various
He was seated at a table, and had a large old German folio open before him.
The Gypsies
Charles G. Leland
He had got through January and February in five folio volumes, when he died in 1658.
The Book-Hunter
John Hill Burton

British Dictionary definitions for folio

folio

noun plural -lios

a sheet of paper folded in half to make two leaves for a book or manuscript

a book or manuscript of the largest common size made up of such sheets

a leaf of paper or parchment numbered on the front side only

a page number in a book

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

NZ a collection of related material

adjective

relating to or having the format of a folioa folio edition

verb -lios, -lioing or -lioed

(tr) to number the leaves of (a book) consecutively

Word Origin for folio

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

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.