fig leaf

• fig-leaf, figleaf (noun)

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.

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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).
   • 1965, Attila Zohar, Kings Cross Black Magic, Sydney: Horwitz Publications, page 107:

     This figleaf morality expresses a very unhealthy mental attitude.

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.

   • 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.