Retiring say, after Republican papers fold (5)
I believe the answer is:
ridge
'fold' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'retiring say after republican papers' is the wordplay.
'retiring' says the letters should be written in reverse.
'say' becomes 'eg'.
'after' says to put letters next to each other.
'republican' becomes 'r' (abbreviation).
'papers' becomes 'id' (identification papers).
'eg' reversed gives 'ge'.
'r'+'id'='rid'
'ge' after 'rid' is 'RIDGE'.
(Other definitions for ridge that I've seen before include "Rooftop" , "Part of mountain" , "Narrow hilltop range" , "Hog's-back" , "Long narrow crest" .)