Fold

To bend something over onto a part of itself is to fold it over. When I fold a piece of paper I may then push together where the fold begins in order to make it crease. One can fold something many times. I might fold a piece of paper into an airplane. I might be extra brilliant and make a peace dove or many other complex items. Doing those complex folds is called origami, an art originated in Japan

A fold in the land is an undulation or hollow. I guess that is where we see those temporary puddles after a rain. Who knew? We can see the natural making of folds when we place a large tablecloth on a round table. The part that hangs over the sides will naturally fold, nice soft folds, no crease. That also happens with curtains or the skirt of a dress or a flag gently moved by the wind

You could be brought into a fold, a fold of people that is. The fold is an insider group, folks bonded by something, everything from soccer Moms to GBS survivors to accordion players with a wooden leg. To be ‘in’ the fold is to belong and to be protected, cared for and honoured. A human fold like these is a safe place for those within it. To be a member of this kind of fold can be akin to a religious experience

When a business folds, it closes up and no longer operates. Usually not pleasant. When playing poker if I fold that means I stop playing, place my hand face down on the table and forfeit anything that I may have bet up to that point. It means ‘I quit’. A lot like the business example. A folding chair collapses like an accordion into a smaller size to make it more compact for storage. So too in folding a hand fan

Folding money refers to a significant sum of money. That as opposed to small change. We may fold some ingredients into the dough as we prepare a cake for baking. We fold, rather than simply mix because we want to maintain something about that which we are folding into. If the base has been whipped, it is full of air bubbles. If we mix, not fold, the air can escape and the cake may not come out fluffy