fig leaf

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See also: figleaf and fig-leaf

English

Alternative forms

Noun

fig leaf (plural fig leaves)

  1. A leaf of the fig plant.
  2. 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).
  3. (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.

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