Foil

That which sets off something to advantage. The allusion is to the metallic leaf used by jewellers to set off precious stones. (French, feuille; Latin, folium; Greek, phullon, a leaf.)

“Hector, as a foil to set him off.”

Broome.

“Iʹll be your foil, Laertes. In mine ignorance

Your skill shall, like a star iʹ the darkest night,

Stick flery off indeed.”

Shakespeare: Hamlet, v. 2.

He foiled me. He outwitted me.

“If I be foiled, there is but one ashamod who never was gracious.”—Shakespeare: As You Like It, i. 2.

To run a foil. To puzzle; to lead astray. The track of game is called its foil; and an animal hunted will sometimes run back over the same foil in order to mislead its pursuers.

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.