fig leaf
English
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Middle English *figge leef (attested in the plural figge leves), a partial calque of Old English fīclēaf (“fig leaf”). By surface analysis, fig + leaf.
Noun
[edit]fig leaf (plural fig leaves)
- A leaf of the fig plant.
- A representation of leaf of a fig plant used to cover the genitals of a nude figure in a work of art (alluding to Genesis iii 7, in which Adam and Eve use fig leaves to hide their nakedness).
- (figuratively) Anything used to conceal something undesirable or that one does not want to be discovered.
- 2019 July 24, David Austin Walsh, “Flirting With Fascism”, in Jewish Currents[1]:
- True, David Brog, one of the organizers of last week’s conference, insisted that national conservatives are not anti-immigrant. But this is a fig leaf. [University of Pennsylvania law professor Amy] Wax explicitly made an argument for limiting the number of nonwhites entering the US.
- 2022 February 1, Marina Hyde, “Never mind wine fridges, the Tory party is drunk on Kool-Aid”, in The Guardian[2]:
- In fact, speaking of paedos, the prime minister chose to use one as a figleaf.
Derived terms
[edit]- figleaf (verb)
- fig-leaved
- fig-leafed
Translations
[edit]leaf of the fig plant
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leaf covering genitals in a work of art
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anything intended to conceal something undesirable
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