fold (up) (one's) tent
To quit, withdraw, or disengage (from something), especially quietly or discreetly. After allegations of embezzlement, the CEO decided to fold his tent and take an early retirement. You're going to have a lot of setbacks in life, so don't just fold up your tent and go home at the first sign of failure.
green folding stuff/money
Paper money, especially in large amounts. Primarily heard in US. Boy, I bet you had to lay down some serious green folding for that new sports car, huh? How much green folding stuff is this repair job gonna cost me? Now, don't go shelling out all your green folding money at once just because you've gotten your first paycheck.
fold back
[for a sheet of something] to bend back. The cloth folded back, revealing the faded upholstery below. The top page folded back, revealing a neatly typed manuscript.
fold one's hands
to bring one's hands together, palm to palm, with the fingers interlocking; to grasp one's hands together, palm to palm, perpendicular to one another. Please fold your hands and put them on the table while the teacher reads you a story. Please fold your hands and be quiet.
fold something away
to fold something up and put it away. Please fold the maps away. Please fold away the maps neatly.
fold something back
to bend a sheet or flap of something back. She very carefully folded the page back to mark her place in the book. She folded back the page to mark her place in the book. The surgeon folded the flap of skin back, revealing the torn ligament.
fold something into something
1. and
fold something in to blend something, such as eggs, into batter. (See also
cut something into something.)
Carefully, the chef folded the eggs into the other ingredients. The chef folded in the eggs. 2. to make an object by folding something, such as paper or cloth. He folded the paper into a little bird. Wally can fold a sheet of paper into an airplane that flies.
fold something over
to double something over on itself; to make a fold in something. I folded the paper over twice to make something I could fan myself with. Fold over each sheet, and then place it on the stack.
fold something up
1. Lit. to double something over into its original folded position. Please fold the paper up when you are finished. Please fold up the paper.
2. Fig. to put an end to something; to close a money-losing enterprise. Mr. Jones was going broke, so he folded his business up. The producer decided to fold up the play early. It was losing money.
fold, spindle, or mutilate
to harm or disfigure. Referring to a once-standard line printed on machine-readable documents, such as computer punch cards. (Such a document, if folded, placed on a bill spike, or otherwise punctured, would no longer be machine-readable.) At the bottom of the bill, it said "do not fold, spindle, or mutilate," and Jane, in her anger, did all three. Look here, chum, if you don't want to get folded, spindled, or mutilated, you had better do what you are told!
fold up
1. Lit. [for something] to close by folding. The table just folded up with no warning, trapping my leg.
2. Fig. [for someone] to faint. She folded up when she heard the news. I was so weak that I was afraid I was going to fold up.
3. Fig. [for a business] to cease operating. Our shop finally folded up because of the recession. Tom's little candy shop folded up.
folding money
bills of various dollar denominations. I don't want a check. Give me folding money! You got any folding money with you?
fold one's tent
Quietly depart, as in It's late, so let's fold our tents. This term is a partial quotation of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem "The Day is Done" (1844): "And the night shall be filled with music, And the cares that infest the day, Shall fold their tents, like the Arabs, And quietly steal away."
fold up
1. Fail, especially go out of business. For example, Three stores on Main Street have folded up.
2. Collapse, break down. For example, When she told him about the dog's death, she folded up. This idiom alludes to closing or bringing an object into more compact form. [Early 1900s]
return to the fold
Come back to a group after an absence, as in Matthew taught for a number of years, but now he's returned to the fold as vice-president of the firm . This term employs fold in the sense of "an enclosure for sheep," which has been used figuratively since the first half of the 1300s.