A fold that opens like a gate, especially the cover or pages of a record album, magazine, or book that open outward on both sides.
Compound of gate (opening outward) plus fold. The term became standardized in music and publishing in the 1960s when album cover design became an art form.
The gatefold album cover was basically the Instagram of the 1970s—musicians spent as much money on the visual presentation and elaborate fold-outs as they did on the actual music, because physical design mattered more than we can imagine now.
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