foliation Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun (botany) the process of forming leaves
    leafing.
  2. noun (geology) the arrangement of leaflike layers in a rock
  3. noun (architecture) leaf-like architectural ornament
    foliage.
  4. noun the production of foil by cutting or beating metal into thin leaves
  5. noun the work of coating glass with metal foil

WordNet

Fo"li*a"tion noun
Etymology
Cf. F. foliation.
Definitions
  1. The process of forming into a leaf or leaves.
  2. The manner in which the young leaves are dispoed within the bud.
    The . . . foliation must be in relation to the stem. De Quincey.
  3. The act of beating a metal into a thin plate, leaf, foil, or lamina.
  4. The act of coating with an amalgam of tin foil and quicksilver, as in making looking-glasses.
  5. (Arch.) The enrichment of an opening by means of foils, arranged in trefoils, quatrefoils, etc.; also, one of the ornaments. See Tracery.
  6. (Geol.) The property, possessed by some crystalline rocks, of dividing into plates or slabs, which is due to the cleavage structure of one of the constituents, as mica or hornblende. It may sometimes include slaty structure or cleavage, though the latter is usually independent of any mineral constituent, and transverse to the bedding, it having been produced by pressure.

Webster 1913