Foiled meaning

A papal and Spanish attempt upon Ireland in the same year was foiled at Smerwick.

An attempted attack on Antwerp was foiled by the vigilance of the Cardinal Infant.

His plans were foiled by the courage of Arminius and the inability of the Roman exchequer to pay a larger army.

The committee rejected the demand, and Grosseteste foiled an attempt on the king's part to separate the clergy from the baronage.

An isolated attack on Charleston, South Carolina, had been made by Sir Henry Clinton and Sir Peter Parker as early as June 1776, but this was foiled by the spirited resistance of General William Moultrie; after 1778 the southern attempts, stimulated in part by the activity of the French in the West Indies, were vigorously sustained.