folds

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of fold.

   The old map had torn along its worn folds.

   Sharp folds in the rock recorded millions of years of pressure.

   Note

   One plural serves several kinds of fold. It can mean creases in paper or rock, layers of wrapped cloth, or the coils of a snake's body. Context usually settles which is meant: the folds of a map are creases, and the folds of a snake are coils. The same spelling is also the present-tense verb. Word order tells them apart: after the, its or her, folds is a noun.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of fold.

   The origami artist folds each sheet with precise, even creases.

   Whenever the table folds flat, it slides neatly under the stairs.

   Note

   The -s form goes with he, she, it or a singular noun, and it covers every use of the verb, with or without an object. In she folds the letter, the verb takes an object. In the table folds flat, it takes none. Informally, the objectless use means to collapse or give way. A business that folds has shut down, and someone who folds under pressure has given in.

   If the funding falls through, the theater folds by spring.

   He talks tough, but he folds the moment anyone pushes back.

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