fooln.¹adj.

Brit.

/fuːl/, U.S.

/ful/

Forms: Middle English ffoles (plural), Middle English ffool, Middle English ffoole, Middle English ffuyll, Middle English foell, Middle English fol, Middle English foll, Middle English folle, Middle English foul, Middle English fowle, Middle English fowlle, Middle English foyl, Middle English foyle, Middle English foyll, Middle English ful, Middle English–1500s foule, Middle English–1600s fole, Middle English–1600s foole, Middle English–1600s fooll, Middle English (1900s– Irish English (northern)) fule, Middle English– fool, late Middle English fulies (plural), 1500s foolle, 1500s vool (southern), 1800s fael (Irish English (northern)), 1900s– foo' (U.S., nonstandard), 2000s– foo (U.S., nonstandard); English regional (chiefly northern) 1600s 1800s foo, 1700s–1800s fuil, 1800s faal (Yorkshire), 1800s feul, 1800s feull, 1800s fule, 1800s– feeal (Yorkshire), 1800s– fooal, 1800s– fooil; Scottish pre-1700 foel, pre-1700 foill, pre-1700 fole, pre-1700 follis (plural), pre-1700 foole, pre-1700 foule, pre-1700 foull, pre-1700 fowl, pre-1700 fowle, pre-1700 foyl, pre-1700 foyll, pre-1700 fuile, pre-1700 fuill, pre-1700 fuille, pre-1700 ful, pre-1700 full, pre-1700 fulle, pre-1700 fuyl, pre-1700 fuyll, pre-1700 fwil, pre-1700 fwill, pre-1700 fwle, pre-1700 fwyll, pre-1700 1700s– fool, pre-1700 1700s– fule, pre-1700 1800s– fuil, 1700s– feel (chiefly northern), 1800s feil (Aberdeenshire), 1800s füil (Shetland), 1800s fül (Shetland), 1900s– feul (Orkney), 1900s– föl (Shetland). N.E.D. (1897) also records a form Middle English–1500s foulee.

Origin: A borrowing from French. Etymon: French fol.

Etymology: < Anglo-Norman fool, foole, Anglo-Norman and Old French, Middle French fol, Anglo-Norman and Middle French (rare) foul (French fou ) (noun) foolish person, unwise person (c1100; the sense ‘jester, clown’ is apparently not paralleled in French until later than in English: 1580), (adjective) foolish, unwise, stupid (c1100), wicked, sinful (early 12th cent.), lustful, lewd, wanton (early 13th cent.) < classical Latin follis bag, sack, money bag, purse, large inflated ball, bellows, in post-classical Latin also arrogant person, person who speaks foolishly (4th or 5th cent. in Augustine; from 10th cent. in British sources), (adjective) foolish (9th cent.) < the same Indo-European base as bowl n.¹Compare post-classical Latin follus foolish (9th cent.; from 13th cent. in British sources), fool (13th cent. in British sources), Old Occitan fol, folh, Catalan foll (11th cent.), adjective and noun, Italian folle (late 12th cent. as adjective, early 13th cent. as noun). In modern French the masculine adjective and noun has the forms fou, (before a vowel) fol, while the feminine adjective and noun has the form folle.

A. n.¹

I. A person lacking in intelligence or judgement, and related senses.

1. A person whose behaviour suggests a lack of intelligence, common sense, or good judgement; a silly person, an idiot; (now often) a person who acts unwisely or imprudently on a particular occasion (usually predicative and often with dependent clause, as in I was a fool to agree).A common word in all periods from Middle English onwards, but apparently especially from the 16th to the early 18th centuries; compare, e.g., the productivity in phrasal and compound use during this period (see Phrases, Compounds 1). The word seems to have always carried some level of depreciative sentiment beyond simple description, but this depreciative aspect becomes increasingly mild in modern use in comparison with other synonymous or closely related terms.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > stupid, foolish, or inadequate person > foolish person, fool > [noun]

dizzyc825

cang?c1225

foolc1225

apec1330

mopc1330

saddle-goosec1346

mis-feelinga1382

foltc1390

mopec1390

fona1400

buffardc1430

fopc1440

joppec1440

fonda1450

fondlinga1450

insipienta1513

plume of feathers1530

bobolynec1540

dizzard1546

Little Witham?1548

nodc1563

dawkin1565

cocknel1566

nigion1570

niddicock1577

nodcock1577

cuckoo1581

Jack with the feather1581

niddipol1582

noddyship?1589

stirkc1590

fonkin1591

Gibraltar1593

fopper1598

noddypeak1598

coxcombry1600

simple1600

gowka1605

nup1607

fooliaminy1608

silly ass1608

dosser-head1612

dor1616

glow-worm1624

liripipea1625

doodle1629

sop1637

spalt1639

fool's head1650

buffle1655

Jack Adams1656

bufflehead1659

nincompoopc1668

bavian1678

nokes1679

foolanea1681

cod1699

hulver-head1699

nigmenog1699

single ten1699

mud1703

dowf1722

foolatum1740

silly billy1749

tommy noddy1774

arsec1785

nincom1800

silly1807

slob1810

omadhaun1818

potwalloper1820

mosy1824

amadan1825

gump1825

gype1825

oonchook1825

prawn1845

suck-egg1851

goosey1852

nowmun1854

pelican1856

poppy-show1860

buggerlugs1861

damfool1881

mudhead1882

yob1886

peanut head1891

haggis bag1892

poop1893

gazob1906

mush1906

wump1908

zob1911

gorm1912

goof1916

goofus1916

gubbins1916

dumb cluck1922

twat1922

B.F.1925

goofer1925

bird brain1926

berk1929

Berkeley1929

Berkeley Hunt1929

ding1929

loogan1929

stupido1929

poop-stick1930

nelly1931

droop1932

diddy1933

slappy1937

goof ball1938

get1940

poon1940

tonk1941

clot1942

yuck1943

possum1945

gobdaw1947

momo1953

nig-nog1953

plonker1955

weenie1956

nong-nong1959

Berkshire Hunt1960

balloon1965

doofus1965

dork1965

nana1965

shit-for-brains1966

schmoll1967

tosspot1967

lunchbox1969

doof1971

tonto1973

dorkus1979

motorhead1979

mouth-breather1979

wally1980

wally brain1981

der-brain1983

langer1983

numpty1985

sotong1988

fanny1995

fannybaws2000

c1225 Worcester Glosses to Old Eng. Homilies in Anglia (1928) 52 23 Gedwæsmen : fol.

c1300 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Otho) (1963) l. 723 Cniþt þou art mochel fol [c1275 Calig. sot].

a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(1)) (1850) Ecclus. xxxiii. 5 The entrailes of a fool as the whel of a carre, and as a turnende ful axtre [a1425 L.V. extre] the thenkingus of hym.

a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) I. vi. xvii. 317 Telle a fool his defautes and he schal hate þee.

a1425 (a1400) Prick of Conscience (Galba & Harl.) (1863) l. 126 Elles es he a fole and noght wise.

1481 W. Caxton tr. Siege & Conqueste Jerusalem (1893) xxv. 57 There ben more fooles than wysemen.

1533 J. Gau in tr. C. Pedersen Richt Vay To Rdr. sig. Aii^v As sum fuyl or munk maid.

1569 T. Preston Lamentable Trag. Cambises sig. D iv b I think the vool be mad.

1612 T. Dekker If it be not Good Prol. Fooles by lucky Throwing, oft win the Game.

1677 W. Hughes Man of Sin iii. i. 5 Francis..admired for a glorious Saint, was in his life time commonly taken for a silly Fool.

1773 H. Chapone Lett. Improvem. Mind II. 111 Unless you improve your mind..you also will be an insignificant fool in old age.

1856 C. Reade It is never too Late I. xv. 255 If he hadn't been a fool and put his nose into my business.

1881 W. Besant & J. Rice Chaplain of Fleet I. vi. 144 No doubt, there have been fools before.

1941 P. Hamilton Hangover Square (1974) 78 He had been a fool to take her out.

1976 A. White Long Silence xviii. 158 None of you strikes me as the kind of fool who would accept a suicide mission.

2016 Sydney Morning Herald (Nexis) 8 Jan. (Sport section) 46 He'd been made to look like a fool on national television.

a. A jester or clown, esp. one retained in a royal court or noble household as a source of casual entertainment, traditionally dressed in a particoloured costume including a hood or cap adorned with bells and ass’s ears, and carrying a bauble.The fool could be either a person of low or impaired intelligence (cf. sense A. 4) treated as a source of humour or object of mockery, or an entertainer who had licence to speak freely and was indulged on account of being amusing or insightful (cf. fool sage n.). The latter figure incorporates elements of inversion or disruption of the social order, which derive from the licensed fool in the medieval Feast of Fools (see Feast of Fools n. 1b) and are preserved in character of the fool in other folk festivals (see sense A. 2b). The fool’s traditional costume is also apparently taken over from this context. The fool in Elizabethan, Jacobean, and Caroline drama is typically a household retainer but with emphasis placed on satirical comment and social disruption, e.g. Touchstone in As You Like It and Feste in Twelfth Night.For further information on the fool’s costume, see Compounds 4a, bauble n. 7a, fool's cap n.¹ 1a, fool's head n. 1, fool's hood n. 1, motley n. 3a.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > performance of jester or comedian > [noun] > jester or comedian

jugglerc1175

foolc1300

jangler1303

fool sagec1330

ribald1340

ape-ward1362

japer1377

sage fool1377

harlotc1390

disporter?a1475

jocular?a1475

joculatora1500

jester?1518

idiot1526

scoffer1530

sporter1531

dizzardc1540

vice1552

antic1564

bauble-bearer1568

scoggin1579

buffoon1584

pleasant1595

zany1596

baladine1599

clown1600

fiddle1600

mimic1601

ape-carrier1615

mime1616

mime-man1631

merry man1648

tomfool1650

pickle-herring1656

badine1670

puddingc1675

merry-andrew1677

mimical1688

Tom Tram1688

Monaghan1689

pickled herring1711

ethologist1727

court-foola1797

Tom1817

mimer1819

fun-maker1835

funny man1839

mimester1846

comic1857

comedian1860

jokesman1882

comique1886

Joey1896

tummler1938

alternative comedian1981

Andrew-

c1300 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Otho) (1978) l. 10133 Baldolf..lette seren his heued ase me doþ an fole.

c1390 Roberd of Cisyle (Vernon) (1930) l. 155 Lych a fool, a fool to be. Wher is now þi dignite?

a1413 (c1385) G. Chaucer Troilus & Criseyde (Pierpont Morgan) (1881) ii. l. 400 The kynges fool is woned to cryen lowde.

a1438 Bk. Margery Kempe (1940) i. 62 They cuttyd hir gown so schort þat it come but lytil be-nethyn hir kn..for sche xuld ben holdyn a fool.

a1500 (?a1425) Ipomedon (Harl.) (1889) l. 1643 He semyd a fole..Bothe by hede and by atyre.

1532 Privy Purse Exp. Hen. VIII 205 For making of gere for the kinges fole xxx s.

1609 T. Dekker Guls Horne-bk. sig. B2 He may be..his crafty Foole or his bawdy Iester.

1652 R. Brome Joviall Crew v. sig. O4 To beg the next Fool-Royal's place that falls.

1691 N. Luttrell Diary in Brief Hist. Relation State Affairs (1857) II. 311 Mr. Graham, the fool in King James time.

1706 D. Defoe Jure Divino Introd. p. ii The Strong unbounded Lust of Sovereign Rule, Makes him Conceit the Prince, forget the Fool.

1809 S. T. Coleridge Satyrane's Lett. ii in Friend 7 Dec. 251 The happiest illustrations of general truths..from the Fools and Clowns of Shakespeare.

1847 L. Hunt Jar of Honey (1848) vi. 75 He had all the humiliations..of the cap and bells, and was the dullest fool ever heard of.

1999 New Straits Times (Malaysia) (Nexis) 24 Feb. (Literary section) 7 One could speak, like Lear's fool,..by seeming to speak in jest.

b. A stock character in a mummers' play (mummers' play n.), morris dance, and other performance associated with English folk festival, characterized as a jester or buffoon. Also: a person (originally a man) wearing an elaborate costume and mask who participates in a mummers' parade, a traditional Christmas and New Year celebration in Newfoundland. Cf. tomfool n. 2.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > social event > festive occasion > persons and characters > [noun] > participant in Christmas or Tweltfh Night

wassailer1706

junkanoo1774

fool?1835

society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > drama > part or character > [noun] > types of part or character

underpart1679

persona muta1714

travesty1732

soubrette1753

old man1762

small part?1774

breeches-part1779

character part1811

fat1812

chambermaida1828

fool?1835

raisonneur1845

ingénue1848

villain of the piece1854

stock character1864

feeder1866

satirette1870

character role1871

travesty1887

thinking part1890

walk-on1902

cardboard cutout1906

bit1926

good guy1928

feed1929

bad guy1932

goody1934

walkthrough1935

narrator1941

cameo1950

black hat1959

?1835 Peace Egg i. 5 Fool.—What diseases can you cure? Doctor.—All sorts. Fool.—What's all sorts? Doctor.—The itch, the pitch, the palsy, & the gout.

1842 R. H. Bonnycastle Newfoundland II. xii. 139 Some of the masks are very grotesque, and the fools or clowns are furnished with thongs and bladders, with which they belabour the exterior mob.

1903 J. C. Cox Strutt's Sports & Pastimes (new ed.) iv. iii. 274 The characters are..namely, St George, Fool, Slasher, Doctor, Prince of Paradine, King of Egypt, Hector, Beelzebub, and Devil-Doubt.

1918 H. H. Child in A. W. Ward & A. R. Waller Cambr. Hist. Eng. Lit. V. ii. 33 The characters are the traditional grotesques of village festivals—the fool and the Hobby-horse.

1955 Daily News (St. John's, Newfoundland) 23 Dec. 11/3 The Fools..were one of the great Christmas institutions in the city, as persistently perennial as the season itself.

2016 CNN.com (Nexis) 10 Dec. One man, covered in ribbons, plays the part of the ‘ribbon fool,’ a prankster in traditional mummering.

3. A person who is made to appear ridiculous by, or is in the control of, another; spec. a person who is tricked or duped; a gullible person. Now chiefly as retained in set expressions, e.g. to make a fool of (see Phrases 3b(a)), to be nobody’s fool (see nobody pron. and n. Compounds).to put the fool on: see put v. Phrases 4a.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > cheating, fraud > duping, making a fool of > [noun] > gullible person, dupe

foola1382

woodcockc1430

geckc1530

cousinc1555

cokes1567

milch cow1582

gudgeon1584

coney1591

martin1591

gull1594

plover1599

rook1600

gull-finch1604

cheatee1615

goata1616

whirligig1624

chouse1649

coll1657

cully1664

bubble1668

lamb1668

Simple Simon?1673

mouth1680

dupe1681

cull1698

bub1699

game1699

muggins1705

colour1707

milk cow1727

flat1762

gulpin1802

slob1810

gaggee1819

sucker1838

hoaxee1840

softie1850

foozle1860

lemon1863

juggins1882

yob1886

patsy1889

yapc1894

fall guy1895

fruit1895

meemaw1895

easy mark1896

lobster1896

mark1896

wise guy1896

come-on1897

pushover1907

John1908

schnookle1908

Gretchen1913

jug1914

schnook1920

soft touch1924

prospect1931

steamer1932

punter1934

dill1941

Joe Soap1943

possum1945

Moreton Bay1953

easy touch1959

a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(1)) (1850) Isa. xix. 13 Fooles [L. stulti] ben mad the princes of Thaneos; gretli languyssheden the princes of Memfeos.

c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Reeve's Tale (Hengwrt) (1870) l. 4111 Oure corn is stole, men wil vs foolis calle.

c1450 Jacob's Well (1900) 81 A nunne þat..made here as a fool, & obeyid here to alle here sustren as here fool.

1578 J. Lyly Euphues f. 29 Bicause I was content to be his friende, thought he mee meete to be made his foole?

1599 W. Shakespeare Romeo & Juliet iii. i. 136 I am fortunes foole .

1721 C. Cibber Refusal i. 3 I was her Fool for above five Months together.

1850 Ld. Tennyson In Memoriam iv. 4 Thou shall not be the fool of loss.

a1935 W. Holtby South Riding (1936) iv. 249 He was her fool, but he was still her lover.

2005 Globe & Mail (Toronto) (Nexis) 18 Jan. r1 Harry, it sometimes seems, is fortune's fool.

4. A person whose mental faculties are limited or impaired; esp. (frequently with modifying word or phrase) a person having a limited capacity to learn, understand, reason, etc.; a person born with an intellectual disability. Now chiefly in born fool, often in weakened use, applied in depreciative exaggeration to a foolish or silly person (cf. sense A. 1). See also natural fool n.Now likely to be offensive.

ΘΚΠ

the world > health and disease > mental health > mental illness > mental deficiency > [noun] > person

congeonc1285

idiota1400

foola1425

natural foolc1450

natural idiot1497

natural1533

changeling1577

weakling1577

mooncalf1586

slimslack1600

aufe1621

oaf1638

weak-wit1656

underwit1682

imbecile1830

ament1871

unfortunate1881

balmy1903

subnormal1905

deficient1906

retard1909

retardate1912

retarded1912

mopoke1946

retardee1956

mong1980

a1425 (c1385) G. Chaucer Troilus & Criseyde (Corpus Cambr. 61) (1894) ii. l. 370 Euery wight but he be fool [a1413 Pierpont Morgan fel] of kynde, wol deme it loue of frendshipe.

a1425 (c1395) Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) (Royal) (1850) Ecclus. xxv. 4 My soule hatide thre spicis..a pore man proud, and a riche man liere, and an eld man a fool and vnwitti [E.V. a1382 Douce 369(1) an old man fool and dotid; L. senem fatuum et insensatum].

1589 J. Lyly Pappe with Hatchet To Father & Sons Ile make such a splinter runne into your wits, as shal make them ranckle till you become fooles.

a1616 W. Shakespeare All's Well that ends Well (1623) iv. iii. 192 He was whipt for getting the Shrieues fool with childe, a dumbe innocent that could not say him nay.

a1640 W. Fenner Pract. Divinitie (1647) 44 One that hath been a wise man, knows how to hold his peace, but a born foole is invincible.

1670 S. Wilson Lassels's Voy. Italy (new ed.) ii. 212 The Pazzorella, where they keep madmen and fooles.

1741 S. Richardson Pamela III. xxxiii. 311 Hadst thou been a born Fool, or a raw Greenhead, or a doating Greyhead.

1824 R. Crabb Tales 142 He became well in his health; but he remained quite a fool for the rest of his life!

1891 J. C. Atkinson Last of Giant-killers 52 Some folks said that he was a born fool, and that he said so few words because he..stammered so awfully.

1920 E. Cook Press in War-time vii. 92 Only a born fool or a traitor would think of publishing such a statement as ‘Sir Douglas Haig has disposed such and such a number of troops, including such and such regiments in such and such a position.’

2018 @olusola_vic 24 Mar. in twitter.com (accessed 20 June 2018) You're a born fool and a sycophant.

†5. Used as a term of endearment or pity, typically with the implication of innocence or artlessness. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > emotion > love > terms of endearment > [noun]

darlingc888

belamy?c1225

culver?c1225

dearc1230

sweetheartc1290

heartc1300

sweetc1330

honeya1375

dovec1386

jewelc1400

birdc1405

cinnamonc1405

honeycombc1405

lovec1405

wantonc1450

mulling?a1475

daisyc1485

crowdy-mowdy?a1513

honeysop?a1513

powsowdie?a1513

suckler?a1513

foolc1525

buttinga1529

whitinga1529

beautiful1534

turtle-dove1535

soula1538

heartikin1540

bully?1548

turtle1548

lamba1556

nyletc1557

sweet-lovea1560

coz1563

ding-ding1564

pugs1566

golpol1568

sparling1570

lover1573

pug1580

bulkin1582

mopsy1582

chuck1589

bonny1594

chick1594

sweetikin1596

ladybird1597

angel1598

muss1598

pinkany1599

sweetkin1599

duck1600

joy1600

sparrowc1600

sucket1605

nutting1606

chuckaby1607

tickling1607

bagpudding1608

heartling1608

chucking1609

dainty1611

flittermouse1612

honeysuckle1613

fubs1614

bawcocka1616

pretty1616

old thinga1625

bun1627

duckling1630

bulchin1633

bulch?c1640

sweetling1648

friscoa1652

ding-dongs1662

buntinga1668

cocky1680

dearie1681

chucky1683

lovey1684

machree1689

nykin1693

pinkaninny1696

nug1699

hinny1724

puss1753

pet1767

dovey1769

sweetie1778

lovey-dovey1781

lovely1791

ducky1819

toy1822

acushla1825

alanna1825

treat1825

amigo1830

honey child1832

macushla1834

cabbage1840

honey-bunch1874

angel pie1878

m'dear1887

bach1889

honey baby1895

prawn1895

hon1896

so-and-so1897

cariad1899

pumpkin1900

honey-bun1902

pussums1912

snookums1919

treasure1920

wogger1922

amico1929

sugar1930

baby cake1949

angel cake1951

lamb-chop1962

petal1974

bae2006

the mind > emotion > compassion > quality of exciting pity > [noun] > pitiable person

wretcha1500

foolc1525

elf1573

poor hearta1600

pilgarlic1694

perisher1896

c1525 J. Rastell New Commodye Propertes of Women sig. A.vi^v How sey ye now by this lytyll yong fole.

a1586 Sir P. Sidney Astrophel & Stella (1591) 31 O heauenly Foole, thy most kisse worthy face Anger invests with such a louely grace.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Winter's Tale (1623) ii. i. 120 Doe not weepe (good Fooles) There is no cause.

1699 T. Dorrington Observ. Present State Relig. 157 They set him before Mary;..making bare her Virgin Breasts, she gave him suck (poor Fool).

1737 J. Breval Rape of Helen 39 Glycera, is your Name? pretty dear Fool!

6. Frequently with capital initials. A card in the tarot pack, bearing a representation of a beggar, vagabond, or jester. In occult tarot, the fool is one of the 22 major arcana. In tarot games, it counts as the highest trump, or as a card that excuses a player from following suit or playing trump.

ΚΠ

1816 S. W. Singer Researches Hist. Playing Cards 239 If a king is played, and you have not the queen to form a sequence, you play the fool, and this is called an excuse.

1918 L. W. de Laurence Illustr. Key to Tarot ii. i. 39 The zero card of the Fool is allocated, as it always is, to the place which makes it equivalent to the number twenty-one.

2019 M. Atwood Tarot 31/1 The Fool (number 0 in the cards) represents a person starting on the journey of life—full of hope, promise, and naiveté.

a. With about, for, over. A person who has a great fondness or weakness for someone or something; esp. one who is infatuated or besotted with another person.

ΚΠ

1885 A. E. Courtenay Than Many Sparrows xix. 217 He's a regular fool over the girl.

1955 K. Amis Lett. (2000) 448 John is a fool about the 2nd Marianne. I know her slightly and she's quite nice, big tits, friendly piggy face, easy lay.

1993 C. Shields Stone Diaries ii. 49 City folks were fools for fresh flowers.

2016 J. Zafra Stories so Far 37 At some point everyone is a fool for love, everyone is bound to a fantasy.

b. U.S. A person who is devoted or dedicated to a particular activity; (sometimes by extension) one who is highly skilled or successful in the activity. Chiefly with present participle.

ΚΠ

1887 Z. Cocke in Overland Monthly July 66/1 That air that fiddlin' fool, Pete Dobine.

1950 Cumberland (Maryland) News 5 Oct. 7/1 The daring young lady diplomat.., Anna Branger, who broke a new international altitude record for light planes last spring, is training to smash another record... She can fly like a fool.

2003 V. O. Carter Such Sweet Thunder 294 ‘Don't you remember, Allie, when I got them ballet shoes an' started dancin' like them white gals do in the movies?’ ‘Who you tellin? You was a dancin' fool!’

†II. An immoral or sinful person.

8. An immoral or sinful person; an evildoer, a sinner; a rogue, a scoundrel; spec. an unchaste or licentious person. Obsolete.Apparently arising from the use of stultus in certain passages in the Vulgate, esp. Psalms 14:1 (13:1 in the Vulgate) and Proverbs 1, to refer to the folly of people who reject the right moral path. Fool is used in many English translations of these passages down to the 21st cent. and is sometimes interpreted in this sense (cf. quots. 1612 and 1755), although the New Eng. Bible (1970) translates the Hebrew with the stupid or stupid men. Latin stultus translates various Hebrew words, e.g. nāḇāl fool (Psalm 14:1) or 'ēwīl foolish (Proverbs 1:7).

ΚΠ

a1325 (c1280) Southern Passion (Pepys 2344) (1927) l. 438 Whanne þe beste men..shulleþ hare þouȝt wende What shulleþ suche ffoles as we beoþ do?

c1400 (?c1380) Cleanness (1977) l. 202 Fylþe of þe flesch þat foles han vsed.

a1425 Rule St. Benet (Lansd.) (1902) 21 (MED) Yef sho be a fole & ful of iuil.

c1475 (a1449) J. Lydgate Order of Fools (Laud) in Minor Poems (1934) ii. 449 (MED) Cheef of alle folys..Is he that nouther loveth God nor dredith.

a1500 (c1340) R. Rolle Psalter (Univ. Oxf. 64) (1884) ix. §21. 35 (MED) Thai ware foles, noght seruaunt till crist bot till antecrist.

1612 T. Wilson Christian Dict. 168 Foole, a sinner and wicked man, who dispising the wisedome of the word, followes his owne luste... In this sence, the word is vsed throughout the Prouerbs of Salomon: also Psalme. 14, 1.

1755 S. Johnson Dict. Eng. Lang. Fool, [In Scripture.] A wicked man.]

B. adj.

†1.

a. Wicked, sinful; despicable. Obsolete.

ΚΠ

c1225 (?c1200) Sawles Warde (Bodl.) (1938) 4 Nis hare nan þe ne feareð ofte untoheliche & gulteð ilome, oðer ifol semblant oder in vuel dede.

?c1225 Ancrene Riwle (Cleo.: Scribe B) (1972) 305 [Scribe A Of mon þet ȝe misleueð] þurh his fol semblant oðer bi his wake wordes.

c1275 in C. Brown Eng. Lyrics 13th Cent. (1932) 51 Þu wrecche fole bali, nu þu list on bere.

c1390 Evangelie (Vernon) l. 24 in C. Horstmann Minor Poems Vernon MS (1892) 1 (MED) He þat eggeþmon to quede..me wolde lede To wikked wille or fool dede.

a1450 Quixley's Ballades in Yorks. Archæol. Jrnl. (1909) 20 45 (MED) Þe wyfe of kyng of grece Menelay, Whiche was þe fool synnere ouer mesure, Helayne.

1532 Romaunt Rose in Wks. G. Chaucer f. clxviii/1 Your wicked thought..That meueth your foole eloquence.

b. Lustful, lascivious; sexually promiscuous, licentious. Obsolete.

ΚΠ

?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 45 Þe haligast lette writen on boke for to warni wimmen of hare fol echnen.

c1300 St. Nicholas (Laud) l. 28 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 241 Heore red huy nomen alle þreo fole wommen to bi-come And raþer þanne heo in swuche houngur weren to libbe bi heoredom [emended in ed. to horedom].

c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Parson's Tale (Ellesmere) (1877) §853 The fool lookynge of the fool womman and of the fool man.

a1450 MS Bodl. 779 in Archiv f. das Studium der Neueren Sprachen (1889) 82 386 (MED) A bed me gan him make..& dede wit him fool women, to habben of hem þe syȝte..þus fram fool wille him-self he chastid þere.

2. Foolish, silly, stupid. In early use often: spec. showing a lack of judgement; rash, imprudent, unwise. Now colloquial or regional (esp. U.S.).Not in formal or standard use after 16th cent. Subsequently, in colloquial or regional use throughout the British Isles, esp. in Scotland, and North America. Later also attested in other regions, such as the Caribbean and South Asia.Attributive use may sometimes be difficult to distinguish from use of the noun as a modifier (see, e.g., Compounds 2).

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > foolishness, folly > [adjective]

dizzyc825

unwisec825

redelessOE

unwittyc1000

daftlikec1175

witlessc1175

canga1225

adoted?c1225

cangun?c1225

egedec1225

cangeda1250

foola1250

snepea1250

aerwittec1275

sotlyc1275

unslyc1275

unwitterc1275

unwilya1300

nicec1300

goosishc1374

unskilfulc1374

follyc1380

lewdc1380

mis-feelinga1382

dottlec1390

foltedc1390

peevishc1400

fona1425

fonnishc1425

foliousa1450

foolisha1450

daft?c1450

doitedc1450

dotyc1450

daffish1470

insapientc1470

gucked?a1500

wanwittya1500

furious1526

insipient1528

seelya1529

dawish?1529

foolage1545

momish1546

base-wittedc1547

stultitiousa1549

follifulc1550

senseless1565

mopish1568

fondish1579

unsensiblea1586

fondly1587

dizzardly1594

follial1596

featlessc1598

fopperly1599

gowkeda1605

inept1604

simple1604

anserine1607

foppish1608

silly ass1608

unsage1608

wisdomless1608

fool-beggeda1616

Gotham1621

noddy1645

badot1653

dosser-headed1655

infrunite1657

nonsensicalc1661

slight1663

sappy1670

datelessa1686

noddy-peaked1694

nizy1709

dottled1772

gypit1804

shay-brained1806

folly-stricken1807

fool-like1811

goosy1811

spoony1813

niddle-noddle1821

gumptionless1823

daftish1825

anserous1826

as crazy as a loon1830

spoonish1833

cheese-headed1836

dotty1860

fool-fool1868

noodly1870

dilly1873

gormless1883

daffy1884

monkey-doodle1886

mosy1887

jay1891

pithecanthropic1897

peanut-headed1906

dinlo1907

boob1911

goofy1921

ding-a-ling1935

jerky1944

jerk1947

jerkish1948

pointy-headed1950

doofus1967

twitty1967

twittish1969

nerkish1975

numpty1992

a1250 Ureisun ure Louerde (Nero) in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 200 Me nis he fol chepmon, ðet buð deore awoc þing.

c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) l. 11976 Þis lokinge was riȝt fol in such destresse iwis.

c1330 (?c1300) Guy of Warwick (Auch.) l. 380 Ich wene þou art a fole musard!

c1429 Mirour Mans Saluacioune (1986) l. 273 The wise virgines þat oele vnto the fole maydens denyed.

1481 tr. Cicero De Senectute (Caxton) sig. b5 Also is olde age greuous..to the fole olde man.

?1541 R. Copland Galen's Fourth Bk. Terapeutyke sig. Dj, in Guy de Chauliac's Questyonary Cyrurgyens O foole and imprudent Thessalus.

1590 R. Harvey Plaine Percevall sig. D3^v Let the wisest be the forwardest, and the most foole the frowardest.

1621 B. Robertson tr. Erasmus Adagia in Latine & Eng. 2 Penny wise, pound foole.

1681 S. Colvil Mock Poem (1751) 130 Fighting is a fool thing.

1728 P. Walker Six Saints (1901) II. 18 [They] would make no use of ale nor tobacco, and other fool things.

1805 L. Dow Jrnl. (1806) II. i. 76 I showed the contrast of a gentleman and a fool deist.

1842 Congr. Globe 25 Jan. App. 153 All the fool Federal fandangoes that disgraced the country.

1862 S. Hale Let. 28 Aug. (1919) 13 Everybody talking such fool nonsense as sometimes almost to prevent digestion.

1902 W. N. Harben Abner Daniel 2 Oh, Alan, don't you see he's goin' to ruin us with his fool notions?

1932 E. Wilson Devil take Hindmost ix. 104 The local banks have failed through the speculations of some fool gambler.

1966 D. J. Crowley I could talk Old-story Good 25 Man, you too fool!

2009 Chicago Daily Herald (Nexis) 2 Nov. (Neighbor section) 1 What fun, two seniors jumping and kicking like teenagers and laughing our fool heads off.

Phrases

P1. In proverbs and proverbial expressions.

(a) With reference to hasty or rash speech or action. In early use chiefly in a fool's bolt is soon shot; now usually in fool's rush in where angels fear to tread (see rush v.² Phrases 1) or (in shortened form) fools rush in.

ΚΠ

a1325 (c1250) Prov. Hendyng (Cambr.) xii, in Anglia (1881) 4 184 Fole is bolt is sone iscoutin.

a1425 (?a1400) G. Chaucer Romaunt Rose (Hunterian) (1891) l. 5266 A fooles belle is soone runge.

1545 R. Taverner tr. Erasmus Prouerbes (new ed.) f. iiii A foles bolt is soone shotte.

1574 A. Golding tr. J. Calvin Serm. on Job (new ed.) xlvi. 238/1 Men say, A fooles bolt is soone shot: and are not we double fooles when wee iudge without anye knowledge or discretion?

1663 Hudibras: Second Pt. 73 Sudden as Thunder (that soures Beer) As lowd too; he bids Wretches hear, For now his anger is grown hot, And a Fools bolt is soonest shot.

1711 A. Pope Ess. Crit. 36 For Fools rush in where Angels fear to tread.

1797 J. Ritson Let. 24 Aug. (1833) II. 159 Now will you have my conjecture? for a fools bolt, they say, is soon shot.

1841 W. J. O’N. Daunt Old Earl & His Young Wife xiv. 180 They might fancy there was some danger from your tongue—they say a fool's bolt is soon shot.

1859 T. C. Grattan Civilized Amer. (ed. 2) II. xiii. 369 Beings who, while ‘fools rush in’ and self-made judges irreverently pronounce ex cathedrá sentence on the inscrutable acts of Heaven, stand patiently by.

1961 H. Peretti et al. Can’t help falling in Love with You (song, perf. Elvis Presley) Wise men say only fools rush in But I can't help falling in love with you.

2020 @erotician67 26 May in twitter.com (accessed 3 July 2020) Fools rush in and sometimes end up hurting other people but also yourself.

(b) In expressions contrasting fools with wise men, e.g. a fool may give a wise man counsel, fools ask question wise men cannot answer, etc.

ΚΠ

a1413 (c1385) G. Chaucer Troilus & Criseyde (Pierpont Morgan) (1881) i. l. 630 A fool may ek ofte a wys man gide.

a1533 Ld. Berners tr. A. de Guevara Golden Bk. M. Aurelius (1537) f. 24 Many tymes of wyse yonge men cometh olde foles, And of yonge fooles customably cometh wise olde men.

1625 F. Bacon Apophthegmes §167. 186 Cato Maior would say; That wise men learned more by Fooles, then Fooles by wise men.

1660 R. L'Estrange Apol. with Short View 88 I shall..make the old saying good, that One Fool may ask more Questions, than Twenty Wise men can Answer.

1738 J. Swift Treat. Polite Conversat. ii. 69 They say, a Fool will ask more Questions, than twenty wise Men can answer.

1818 W. Scott Heart of Mid-Lothian (1822) xix. 344 If a fule may gie a wise man counsel, I wad hae him think twice.

1997 M. Walters Echo iv. 60 ‘I reckon I learnt a thing or two off of him.’ ‘Like what?’ Terry grinned. ‘Like, fools ask questions that wise men cannot answer.’

(c) there's no fool like an old fool and variants: the foolish behaviour of an older person seems especially foolish as older people are expected to think and act more sensibly than younger ones.

ΚΠ

1546 J. Heywood Dialogue Prouerbes Eng. Tongue ii. ii. sig. Fiv^v There is no foole to the olde foole.

1621 T. W. in tr. S. Goulart Wise Vieillard To Rdr. sig. A iv The wise Old Man..seemes to glance at our English Proverb: No foole to the old foole.

1818 S. E. Ferrier Marriage II. xiv. 183 ‘But there's no fool like an old fool,’ quoth Nicky.

1904 R. Barr Lady Electra 259 They say there is no fool like an old fool, and that is true.

2003 S. Brooke 2cool/2btrue xxi. 192 I suppose there's no fool like an old fool and it sounded kind of young and funky and cool so I put in a few hundred thou. But now of course, I'll never see a Bleep penny of that, will I?

(d) a fool and his money are soon parted: see money n. Phrases 3d. as the fool thinks, so the bell tinks: see tink v.² Phrases.

b. In miscellaneous expressions.

ΚΠ

1340 Ayenbite (1866) 205 Huo þet loueþ uelaȝrede of fol: hit behoueþ þet he by fol.

c1475 Proverbs (Rawl. D.328) in Mod. Philol. (1940) 38 118 Pulcrum promissum stultum facit esse gavisum. A fere be-heyste makyt a fole gladde.

1563 B. Googe Eglogs Epytaphes & Sonettes sig. E.v But Fortune fauours Fooles as old men saye.

1606 P. Holland in tr. Suetonius Hist. Twelve Caesars Annot. 16 A foole or a physition.

1670 J. Ray Coll. Eng. Prov. 91 Fools build houses, and wise men buy them.

1721 J. Kelly Compl. Coll. Scotish Prov. 101 Every Man at thirty is a Fool or a Physician.

1725 E. Young Universal Passion: Satire II 16 A fool at forty is a fool indeed.

1834 D. Crockett Narr. Life 170 A fool for luck, and a poor man for children.

a1910 W. F. Butler Autobiogr. (1911) xix. 348 Fools build houses for other men to live in.

2018 Denver Post 2 Apr. 1 a A man who is his own lawyer has a fool for a client.

P2. In phrases in which fool is part of a predicate with to be.

a. to be no fool: to be shrewd or prudent; esp. to be too sensible to be easily deceived or tricked. See also nobody's fool n. at nobody pron. and n. Compounds.

ΚΠ

a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) vi. l. 446 He was no fol that ferst so radde.

1577 N. Breton Floorish vpon Fancie sig. R.i The Butcher too againe, hee is no foole I trowe. Hee findes deuise to make a gaine, howe euer Cattell goe.

1682 S. Pordage Medal Revers'd 107 I know you'l grant the Devil is no Fool, He can disguise in Surplice, Cloak, or Cool.

1711 R. Steele Spectator No. 118. ⁋3 For all she looks so innocent as it were, take my Word for it she is no Fool.

1842 F. Marryat Percival Keene (1877) xv. 10/1 Bob Cross is no fool, and can see as far through a fog as most chaps.

1915 A. Conan Doyle Valley of Fear i. ii. 32 ‘Your friend seems to be no fool,’ remarked Holmes. ‘No sir; White Mason is a very live man, if I am any judge.’

2000 T. Clancy Bear & Dragon xxx. 461 The import of his earlier statements had been straightforward enough, and Shen was no fool.

b. to be a fool to: to be inferior to in every way; to be nothing when compared to. Now rare.

ΚΠ

1615 F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Cupids Revenge iii. sig. G4 The Diuell is but a Foole to a right woman.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Taming of Shrew (1623) iii. iii. 30 Tut, she's a Lambe, a Doue, a foole to him.

1700 E. Ward Step to Bath 12 The Road was so Damnable heavy, that..the Corporation Trot to St. Pauls on Sunday, was a Fool to it.

1791 ‘G. Gambado’ Ann. Horsemanship xvii. 76 Childers would have been a fool to him.

1885 H. R. Haggard King Solomon's Mines 79 The Black Hole of Calcutta must have been a fool to it.

1957 R. Graves They hanged my Saintly Billy iii. 22 Bless you, Sir, compared with Rugeley, Nottinghamshire's a fool to it.

1985 P. Beale & E. Partridge Dict. Catch Phrases (ed. 2) 34/2 Blackpool's a fool to it, ‘spoken of any bright lights or any garish sight’ (Mr Jack Eva, 1978); since the 1920s.

c. to be a fool to one's self: to do something to one's own detriment or disadvantage.

ΚΠ

1653 T. Horton Wisdome's Judgm. Folly 23 He that will be wise to God, must be thus far a fool to Himself.

1825 Morning Post 24 Oct. I found myself in such a state of illness, that I should have been a fool to myself..had I fought in that condition.

1919 Manch. Guardian 4 Aug. 10/2 The men were fools to themselves to remain on strike.

2003 S. Mackay Heligoland (2004) x. 148 Gus is a fool to himself, giving away his stock like that. He's his own worst enemy.

d. to be a fool for one's pains: to go to great trouble over something without receiving any commensurate reward; to waste one’s time. Now rare.

ΚΠ

1723 B. Mandeville Fable Bees (ed. 2) i. 349 If he keeps but one [horse], and over feeds it to shew his Wealth he is a Fool for his Pains.

1807 J. Beresford Miseries Human Life II. xvi. 77 I will give you—though I'm a fool for my pains—however, I will give you one squeak more for your inheritance.

1936 E. Everett-Green in Cromwell Argus (Otago, N.Z.) 6 Apr. 2/4 Perhaps I am an old fool for my pains.

P3. In phrases in which fool is the object of specific verbs.

a. to play the fool: (originally) to behave in a manner typical of a fool (see sense A. 2a) or jester; to act or speak in a mocking way; to jest; (more generally) to act or behave foolishly; (now usually) to behave in a playful or silly way; to fool around. In later use also to act the fool.In the 16th and 17th centuries when the subject is plural, typically with fool also in the plural.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > drama > acting > act [verb (intransitive)] > types of part

to play the foolc1426

to walk on1863

supe1888

super1895

miscast1927

the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > foolishness, folly > be or become foolish [verb (intransitive)] > act foolishly

dotec1225

foleyec1374

fop1528

fond1530

daff1535

pract1568

dolt1573

daw1596

fool1597

guck1603

baboonize1611

prat1685

to play the fool1722

niff-naff1728

fopple1756

doitera1790

daffle1796

tomfool1825

to play (also act) the (giddy) goat1841

lallygag1862

silly1877

monkey1878

footle1891

to ass around1899

to play silly buggers (also beggars, bleeders, etc.)1903

to arse around1919

to jackass around1927

nimble-pimble1927

to fuck about1929

to fool up1933

to crap around1936

pantomime1958

prat1961

dork1990

c1426 J. Audelay Poems (1931) 27 (MED) Þai play not þe fole; Contenualy þai gon to scole.

c1475 Mankind (1969) l. 275 I haue..pleyde so longe þe foll þat I am ewyn wery.

1537 W. Turner tr. Urbanus Regius Compar. Olde Learnynge & Newe sig. cvi They tryfle bothe vnlearnedly and vngodly, yet they be not afrayed to dryue to the fyre as many as wyll not play the fooles with them.

a1600 (a1578) W. Roper Lyfe Sir T. Moore (Harl. 6254) (1935) 82 I mervaile that you, that have bine alwaies hitherto taken for so wise a man, will nowe so play the foole.

1660 S. Pepys Diary 26 Feb. (1970) I. 69 I stayed up a little while, playing the fool with the lass of the house.

1676 J. Mason Mentis Humanæ Metamorphosis 16 For Manly Reason in his Sober School Permits no Scholar there to act the Fool.

1722 D. Defoe Relig. Courtship i. i. 28 I advise you not to play the Fool with me any longer.

1740 Ld. Chesterfield Lett. (1932) (modernized text) II. 431 Dressing him out like a jackanapes, and giving him money to play the fool with.

1838 Token & Atlantic Souvenir 100 I feel cross as a bear after playing the fool all day.

1847 G. P. R. James John Marston Hall viii The parliament was playing the fool in Paris.

1933 ‘E. Cambridge’ Hostages to Fortune (2003) 283 When they were far out in the fields, they would take off their hats and link arms, and sing, and chase each other down the steep pastures, and generally play the fool.

1991 E. Currie Dope & Trouble iii. ii. 197 I mean he drinks and everything, badly. And he acts the fool when he's drunk.

2013 M. Booth Sacred Hist. (2017) xxix. 244 Francis was a lighthearted boy, full of happiness, always playing the fool.

(a) to make a fool of: to make (someone) appear foolish, esp. to deceive or ridicule (someone).

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > cheating, fraud > duping, making a fool of > befool, dupe [phrase]

to put an ape in a person's hoodc1330

to glaze one's houvec1369

to cough (a person) a daw, fool, momea1529

to make a fool of1534

to give (any one) the bobc1540

to lead (a person) a dancea1545

to make (someone) an ass1548

to make (a person) an ox1566

to play bob-fool witha1592

to sell any one a bargain1598

to put the fool on1649

to make a monkey (out) of1767

to play (a person) for a sucker (also fool, etc.)1869

to string (someone) along1902

to swing it on or across1923

1534 T. Swinnerton in tr. Mustre of Scismatyke Bysshopes sig. A.viii^v Bonyface perceyuyng that Celestyne was a very goddes creature, and easy to make a foole of, thought surely to shewe hym a poynte of sophestry.

1610 A. Cooke Pope Ioane 23 The Deane made a foole of the Alderman.

1715 D. Defoe Family Instructor I. i. iv. 97 I won't be made a Fool of.

1833 S. T. Coleridge Table-talk 16 Aug. He could not make a fool of me, as he did of Godwin and some other of his butts.

1874 J. Parker Paraclete i. i. 3 The skilled conjuror will make a fool of any man who insists that seeing is believing.

1926 J. Devanny Butcher Shop xviii. 222 He exploded profanely, telling her in effect that she was making a fool of herself.

2015 V. Khan Unexpected Inheritance Inspector Chopra 210 Nayak had made a fool of him.

(b) to make a fool of oneself: to make oneself appear foolish, esp. to behave in a way which suggests incompetence or a lack of judgement or self-control.

ΚΠ

1590 H. Smith Benefit of Contentation sig. AA Thus the couetous man makes a foole of himselfe.

1654 Mercurius Politicus No. 215 3639 The contriver of that wonderfull ship, having made a foole of himself and the Country, is now no more to be heard of.

1761 L. Sterne Life Tristram Shandy III. ii. 11 My father had been resolved to make a fool of himself by holding the wig stiff in his left hand.

1865 Harper's Mag. Oct. 674/2 If the Supreme Court was a mind to make a fool of itself, that was no reason that his court should.

1915 P. G. Wodehouse Something Fresh xi. 315 ‘I do wish that this time you would endeavour..not to make a fool of yourself.’.. ‘I'll have a jolly good stab at it, governor.’

2004 County Wedding Mag. 54/2 They weren't going to miss out because of my irrational fear of making a fool of myself in public.

c. to put the fool on: see put v. Phrases 4a. to suffer fools gladly: see to suffer fools gladly at suffer v. Additions.

P4. (the) more fool you: used to indicate a belief that a person’s actions or plans are foolish or demonstrate a lack of judgement; ‘what a fool you are’, ‘how foolish you are’. Similarly (the) more fool him (her, etc.).Not in North American use.Fool can be interpreted as noun or adjective: see note at more adj. 1h for discussion of the grammar of the phrase.

ΚΠ

1607 T. Middleton Phoenix sig. B2 Lady.For loue to you, did I neglect my state... Captaine. The more foole you, could you like none but me?

1769 I. Bickerstaff Ephesian Matron ii. 5 Matron. No, no, I death prefer. Maid. The more fool you.

1852 H. B. Stowe Uncle Tom's Cabin II. xxxviii. 243 ‘The more fool you!’ said Legree, spitting scornfully at him.

1867 Good Words 8 422/1 ‘More fool you,’ remarked his father, without looking up from the backgammon board.

1878 London Jrnl. 16 Feb. 103/1 I worked for the young lady that was half engaged to him, but she jilted him—more fool her.

1986 D. Potter Singing Detective v. 201 Theatre, you know. But obviously moving into films, or trying to. More fool him.

2002 Pride May 45/2 Any self-respecting female should be wise enough to steer well clear of Romeo rats and, if you don't, then more fool you.

P5. In noun phrases with of. Feast of Fools: see Feast of Fools n. Pope of Fools: see pope n.¹ 5b. ship of fools: see ship n.¹ Phrases 3.

Compounds

C1. Compound use is particularly characteristic of the period between the late 16th and early 18th centuries (cf. note at sense A. 1).

a. As a general modifier with the sense ‘of, relating to, or characteristic of fools’.Now not usually distinguishable from the adjective (see sense B. 2).

ΚΠ

1670 R. Baxter Life of Faith (new ed.) 569 The Tavern, or Gaming-house, or Play-house, or the merry fool-house, as Solomon accounteth it.

1672 T. Alleine Life & Death Mr. J. Alleine 23 Make them throw away their worldly Fool-games, and come and see what it is that these Joyous Souls have found.

1760 J. Jortin Life Erasmus II. 170 None are greater Fools than they, who set up for Fool-Doctors in the Grand Hospital of Incurables.

1883 W. Rein Life Luther xxii. 178 Hoods and tonsure, eating and drinking, and similar fool-work.

2014 @ComedyCentralIn 20 Jan. in twitter.com (accessed 17 July 2020) Temperature rising in fool city :D.

b. With other nouns, with the sense ‘that is both a fool and a ——’, as in fool-gallant., fool-god.

ΚΠ

1596 H. Clapham Briefe of Bible 55 And shall wee admit foolish Boyes, or Foole-Elders into the Church.

1621 J. Taylor Superbiæ Flagellum sig. B5 This foole-god daigned there to be a guest, Who by himselfe was at a table plac'd.

1714 A. Pope Chaucer's Wife of Bath in R. Steele Poet. Misc. 8 Or else her Wit some Fool-Gallant procures.

1850 Ld. Tennyson In Memoriam cxxv. 195 Ev'n tho' thrice again The red fool-fury of the Seine Should pile her barricades with dead.

1887 D. C. Murray & H. Herman One Traveller Returns vii. 100 A fool-dancer, in his ochre-smeared kilt and headdress..sprang and contorted for a reward.

1986 G. Greer Shakespeare v. 103 Plain-speaking and tongue-tied sincerity was a rhetorical convention like any other, but Shakespeare clung to it, embodied in fool-poets, in chuckleheaded peasants and witty children.

(a) With participles, agent nouns, and verbal nouns, forming compounds in which fool expresses the object of the underlying verb, as in fool-bewitching, fool-frighting (adjectives), fool-making (noun and adjective). Frequently with reference to the deception or exploitation of people, typically with the implication that the victim is foolish or gullible.Cf. also fool-finder n., fool-taken adj. at Compounds 1d(b), fool trap n. at Compounds 3.

ΚΠ

1607 Fayre Mayde of Exchange sig. C2 Foole-bewitching beautie.

1624 T. Scott Symmachia 16 The perpetuall Cockering of foole-makeing and foole-fauoring flatterie.

1683 J. Crowne City Politiques iv. 41 A Pamphlet will take up Fools here, make Fools there. A Pamphliteer is the best Fool-maker in the Nation.

a1721 J. Sheffield Wks. (1723) I. 238 Fiery Meteors, and Fool-frighting Ghosts.

1865 ‘C. Bede’ Rook's Garden 123 One of the many variations of this favourite pastime of Fool-making through the medium of imaginary spiritualistic and supernatural agency, is known by the name of ‘Ruling the Planets’.

1916 R. Marsh Adventures Judith Lee 101 Together we went to 37, Airedale Street, the advertised address of the fool-snaring Clarice.

1930 S. P. Cadman Answers to Everyday Questions ix. 332 Every business office is perhaps the better for the fool-silencer.

2011 North Shore News (Brit. Columbia) (Nexis) 20 May 42 The A-Team had it all: cigar-chomping badassery,..fool-pitying.

(b)

fool catcher n. (originally) a person who tricks, cheats, or swindles another; (later more generally) a person that discovers or seeks out fools; cf. coney-catcher n. 1, fool-finder n. 1.

ΚΠ

1594 T. Nashe Vnfortunate Traveller sig. C4^v They..in fine left mee and my fellowes (their foole-catchers) Lords of the field.

1626 N. Breton Figure of Foure: 2nd Pt. sig. A6 A Foole-catcher, and a Cony-catcher.

1832 T. J. Serle Merchant of London iv. ii. 97 Foolery! I'm a fool-catcher now—a physician; a knave—no fool.

1880 National Police Gaz. (U.S.) 10 July 2/2 If the fool-catcher should set on a hunting expedition for recruits to fill up the ranks of his army he could not light upon a more eligible candidate than the married man who runs away with his neighbor's girl.

2014 Free Press (Kinstin, N. Carolina) (Nexis) 4 Nov. I walked in one day to find her eating the Cheetos with a fork. At first I didn't say anything, and after a while she looked at me with a grin and asked, ‘You don't think the fool catcher is going to come after me, do you?’

fool-taker n. now historical a person who tricks, cheats, or swindles another; cf. coney-catcher n. 1.

ΚΠ

1592 T. Nashe Strange Newes sig. A3 Now do I meane to present him and Shakerley to the Queens foole-taker for coatch-horses.

a1652 R. Brome Queen & Concubine ii. v. 34 in Five New Playes (1659) If you be your Queens Fool-taker, you may In Countrey, Court and City quickly find Fools upon Fools that I shall leave behind.

2020 A. Equestri in L. Hopkins & B. Angus Reading from Road vii. 136 These last three adjectives set the victims of the tricks diametrically apart from the fool-takers, who are defined instead as ‘wicked’..‘villain’ or ‘knave’.

† fool-taking n. Obsolete the action of tricking, cheating, or swindling another; cf. coney-catching n. 1.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > cheating, fraud > [noun] > action

bulling1532

cogging1570

cozening1576

coney-catching1591

fool-taking1592

gulling1600

bat-fowling1602

sharking1602

imposturing1618

mountebanking1672

shamming1677

sharping1692

fineering1765

overreachinga1774

pigeoning1808

flat-catching1821

thimble-shifting1834

thimblerigging1839

strawing1851

thimbling1857

fiddling1884

piking1884

ramping1891

1592 R. Greene (title) The thirde and last part of conny-catching. With the new deuised knauish art of foole-taking.

1608 T. Dekker Belman of London sig. I1 Foletaking..is done seuerall waies [described at length].

d. With past participles.

(a) With the past participle implying an innate or characteristic foolishness on the part of the person involved.

† fool-begged adj. Obsolete foolish, ridiculous; cf. to beg (any one) for a fool at beg v. 5a.Apparently an isolated use.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > foolishness, folly > [adjective]

dizzyc825

unwisec825

redelessOE

unwittyc1000

daftlikec1175

witlessc1175

canga1225

adoted?c1225

cangun?c1225

egedec1225

cangeda1250

foola1250

snepea1250

aerwittec1275

sotlyc1275

unslyc1275

unwitterc1275

unwilya1300

nicec1300

goosishc1374

unskilfulc1374

follyc1380

lewdc1380

mis-feelinga1382

dottlec1390

foltedc1390

peevishc1400

fona1425

fonnishc1425

foliousa1450

foolisha1450

daft?c1450

doitedc1450

dotyc1450

daffish1470

insapientc1470

gucked?a1500

wanwittya1500

furious1526

insipient1528

seelya1529

dawish?1529

foolage1545

momish1546

base-wittedc1547

stultitiousa1549

follifulc1550

senseless1565

mopish1568

fondish1579

unsensiblea1586

fondly1587

dizzardly1594

follial1596

featlessc1598

fopperly1599

gowkeda1605

inept1604

simple1604

anserine1607

foppish1608

silly ass1608

unsage1608

wisdomless1608

fool-beggeda1616

Gotham1621

noddy1645

badot1653

dosser-headed1655

infrunite1657

nonsensicalc1661

slight1663

sappy1670

datelessa1686

noddy-peaked1694

nizy1709

dottled1772

gypit1804

shay-brained1806

folly-stricken1807

fool-like1811

goosy1811

spoony1813

niddle-noddle1821

gumptionless1823

daftish1825

anserous1826

as crazy as a loon1830

spoonish1833

cheese-headed1836

dotty1860

fool-fool1868

noodly1870

dilly1873

gormless1883

daffy1884

monkey-doodle1886

mosy1887

jay1891

pithecanthropic1897

peanut-headed1906

dinlo1907

boob1911

goofy1921

ding-a-ling1935

jerky1944

jerk1947

jerkish1948

pointy-headed1950

doofus1967

twitty1967

twittish1969

nerkish1975

numpty1992

a1616 W. Shakespeare Comedy of Errors (1623) ii. i. 41 This foole-beg'd patience in thee will be left.

fool-born adj. foolish, silly; (in later use also) spec. innately foolish or stupid.Frequently in fool-born jest, with allusion to Shakespeare.

ΚΠ

1600 W. Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 2 v. v. 55 Reply not to me with a foole-borne iest.

1736 S. Wesley Poems 394 Expos'd by Fool-born Jest to grinning Shame!

1860 A. Gurney Poems (new ed.) 257 How my thirsting spirit parted with a fool-born tiger pride.

1864 J. Anster tr. J. W. von Goethe Faustus: 2nd Pt. i. 15 This jester, with his fool-born tricks.

1922 N. Amer. Rev. Feb. 520 Lamb was an incorrigible jester, but he never replies to us with a fool-born jest.

2003 J. Patterson Jester (e-book ed.) xliii You are certainly fool-born, man, I grant you that.

† fool-bred adj. Obsolete foolish, silly.

ΚΠ

?1616 W. Goddard Mastif Whelp sig. C2 He prunes out pride, & foole-bredd stately carriadge.

1645 D. North Forest of Varieties i. 48 Subjects of fool-bred scorne, passion, and envy.

(b) As a modifier with the sense ‘—— for a fool’, ‘—— to be a fool’, in adjectives denoting the victims of a trick or deception.

† fool-found adj. Obsolete that has been made to look foolish by a trick or deception.

ΚΠ

a1652 R. Brome Damoiselle (1653) ii. i. sig. B7^v When those, that have beene mock'd, still sent their Neighbours, Till halfe the City have bee fool-found. Ha!

† fool-taken adj. Obsolete that has been tricked, cheated, or swindled; cf. fool-taker n. at Compounds 1c(b), fool-taking n. at Compounds 1c(b).

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > cheating, fraud > duping, making a fool of > [adjective] > fooled, duped

foolified1584

fool-taken1608

cozened1610

gullified1624

gulled1647

sweet1673

bubbled1681

bilked1682

imposed-upon1706

cheated1709

duped1756

pigeoned1777

swindled1809

thimblerigged1840

befooled1842

bamboozled1866

spoofed1958

dicked1972

1608 T. Dekker Belman of London sig. H4^v Others are Foole-taken by letting chambers to fellowes like seruing-men, in the name of such an Esquire, or such a Knight, or such a Captaine new come from the Low Countries, bringing in a trunke exceeding heauy, and crambd full of bricke-bats, which is left in the hired chamber, and fiue times the value of it lifted away in stead of it.

(c) As a modifier, with the sense ‘by fools, with fools’, as in fool-frequented, fool-led, fool-renowned, etc. (adjectives).

ΚΠ

1742 A. Pope New Dunciad 363 Mummius, Fool-renown'd.

1780 W. Cowper Table Talk 756 The fool-frequented fair of vanity.

1869 ‘Ouida’ Tricotrin II. xviii. 293 The fool-filled thrones of Europe.

1914 H. G. Wells War that will end War vi. 46 I do not know how much slaughter lies before Europe before Germany realises that she is fool-led and fool-poisoned.

1989 Sydney Morning Herald (Nexis) 11 Feb. (Late ed.) (Business section) 39 Stockmarket strategists counselled caution in the wave of investor euphoria. It was too quick and too soon, they said. Some even called it ‘fool-led’, with panicked institutions buying at marked-up prices.

e. Forming adjectives with the sense ‘that has a foolish or silly ——’, by combining with a noun + -ed, as in fool-faced, fool-headed, fool-hearted, etc.The meaning of fool-headed and fool-hearted can be interpreted as simply ‘foolish, silly’.

ΚΠ

1667 in J. Denham Direct. to Painter 5 Fool-coated Gownman!

1851 Chambers's Edinb. Jrnl. 15 Nov. 308/1 ‘Free-hearted and generous! Fool-hearted and crazy, you mean!’ rejoined the wife.

1925 Punch 4 Mar. 230/3 He is properly content to be all that any parishioner with a sense of dramatic properties could wish a curate to be, namely, awkward, bashful, fool-faced and easily shocked.

2009 J. Dashner Hunt for Dark Infinity (2010) xxxi. 326 George, what in tarnations is this fool-headed sack of pork-and-beans yappin' about?

f. As a modifier of adjectives, with the sense ‘like a fool; as —— as a fool; foolishly ——’, as in fool-fine, fool-holy.The earliest and most common formation of this type is foolhardy adj. A number of examples imitate or are alternatives to it, e.g. fool-bold, fool-heady.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > emotion > courage > daring > reckless daring > [adjective] > rash or overbold

hardy?c1225

over-hardyc1225

temeraryc1410

overbolda1425

temerous1461

temerarious1532

fool-bold1549

over-daringa1593

fool-heady1611

temeritous1892

1549 J. Bale in J. Leland Laboryouse Journey Concl. sig. ffiij^v Some in corners hath bene folebolde.

1592 Greenes Groats-worth of Witte sig. B3^v So foole-holy as to make scruple of conscience where profit presents it selfe.

1603 H. Crosse Vertues Common-wealth sig. I2^v To knowe the price of Sattin and Veluet, and toies to make him foole-fine.

1611 J. Speed Hist. Great Brit. vi. i. 184/1 Begging pardon for his foole-heady forwardnesse.

1613 G. Chapman Reuenge Bussy D'Ambois i. sig. C1^v Men thither come, to laugh, and feede foole-fat.

1640 J. Gower tr. Ovid Festivalls iv. 89 Up starts the fool-kind Mother, and stark wild Cries out, What mean you? and snatch'd up her child.

1868 E. Waugh Sneck-bant ii. 25 He ails nought 'at aw know on, nobbut he talks to mich off at th' side, neaw an' then; an' he's foo'-hard.

1977 Washington Post 29 June (Final ed.) (Sports section) d1/1 Only the fool-happy would predict a .400 for anybody with more than half a season to play.

g. In compounds where fool negates or undercuts the quality indicated by the second element.

† fool-cunningness n. Obsolete apparent cunning that in fact betrays foolishness or misunderstanding.Apparently an isolated use.

ΚΠ

a1834 S. T. Coleridge Lit. Remains (1838) III. 198 This conceit..was just suited to James's fool-cunningness.

† fool-wisely adv. Obsolete in a manner that supposedly shows wisdom but is in fact indicative of ignorance or foolishness.Probably with humorous play on full wisely (cf. full adv. 2a).

ΚΠ

1584 R. Cosin Answer to Two Fyrst & Principall Treat. ii. x. 287 Asse he foole wiselie dooth interpret.

1605 W. Camden Remaines i. 76 But fole-wisely have some Petres, called themselves Pierius.

1611 W. Sclater Key (1629) 111 Some of them resoluing, foole wisely, that images are to be worshipped.

C2. U.S. In the names of animals, esp. birds.In these formations fool can be interpreted as either noun or adjective.

fool duck n. U.S. regional (now rare) the ruddy duck, Oxyura jamaicensis.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > birds > freshwater birds > order Anseriformes (geese, etc.) > subfamily Merginae (duck) > [noun] > erismatura rubida (ruddy duck)

pintail1674

saltwater or brown diving teal1678

ruddy goose1785

ruddy duck1800

dun diver1844

stick-tail1844

pin-tailed duck1851

ruddy1877

rudder duck1884

fool duck1888

hardhead1888

paddy1888

paddywhack1888

steel-head1888

hardhead1893

rudder bird1894

1888 G. Trumbull Names & Portraits Birds 111 Others at Detroit, and the ‘punters’ of St. Clair Flats, refer to the species still as fool-duck, deaf-duck, and shot-pouch.

2013 E. C. Beedy & E. R. Pandolfino Birds Sierra Nevada 62 Called ‘fool ducks’ by some hunters, they are easy to decoy and hunt compared to most other waterfowl.

fool-fish n. U.S. (now rare) any of numerous filefishes of the family Monacanthidae; (also) any of several flounders of the family Pleuronectidae.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > fish > superorder Acanthopterygii (spiny fins) > order Perciformes (perches) > order Tetraodontiformes (puffers) > [noun] > family Monacanthidae > member of

leather-jacket1770

fool-fish1842

scleroderm1842

unicorn-fish1876

the world > animals > fish > superorder Acanthopterygii (spiny fins) > order Perciformes (perches) > order Pleuronectiformes (flat-fish) > [noun] > family Pleuronectidae > genus Pleuronectes > member of

yellowbelly1775

patiki1834

fool-fish1842

whiff1867

1842 J. E. De Kay Zool. N.-Y. iv. 335 Our fishermen apply to it [sc. Monocanthus broccus] the whimsical name of Fool-fish, in allusion to..its absurd mode of swimming.

1885 Standard Nat. Hist. III. 279 The Pleuronectes glaber, which is called fool-fish at Salem, because they are easily decoyed.

1960 Wildlife N. Carolina Aug. 13 (caption) The fool-fish is aptly named for his stupid appearance, and fishermen who have found him fumbling around in a net after all other fish have escaped consider him as stupid as he looks.

fool hen n. U.S. any of several North American grouse, esp. the spruce grouse, Falcipennis canadensis.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > birds > order Galliformes (fowls) > family Tetraonidae (grouse) > [noun] > member of (grouse)

grouse1603

tetraonid1847

fool hen1868

1868 New Albany (Indiana) Daily Commerc. 29 Mar. Fool hens, pheasant and pigeon.., all and singular are found, it is said, on the pleasant hunting grounds of Montana.

1976 N. Maclean River runs through It 59 This fly, tied in a moment of juvenile enthusiasm had about everything on it from deer hair to fool-hen feathers.

2001 R. J. Adams South Road 103 Fool hens weren't as good eating as partridge because they ate spruce needles and had a pretty strong taste.

C3.

† fool-bane n. Obsolete poison for fools (with the implication that foolish people are a form of pest).

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > foolishness, folly > [noun] > poison for fools

fool-bane1679

1679 J. Dryden Troilus & Cressida Epil. 70 'Twere worth our cost to scatter fool-bane here.

1767 W. Harte Amaranth 101 Wretches when sick of life for rats-bane call: 'Twere worth our while to give them fool-bane all.

† fool-fangle n. Obsolete an item which is designed to capture the attention, but is ultimately inconsequential or worthless.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > attention and judgement > importance > unimportance > [noun] > that which is unimportant > of little importance or trivial

gnatc1000

ball play?c1225

smalla1250

triflec1290

fly1297

child's gamec1380

motec1390

mitec1400

child's playc1405

trufferyc1429

toyc1450

curiosity1474

fly-winga1500

neither mass nor matins1528

boys' play1538

nugament1543

knack?1544

fable1552

nincety-fincety1566

mouse1584

molehill1590

coot1594

scoff1594

nidgery1611

pin matter1611

triviality1611

minuity1612

feathera1616

fillip1621

rattle1622

fiddlesticka1625

apex1625

rush candle1628

punctilio1631

rushlight1635

notchet1637

peppercorn1638

petty John1640

emptiness1646

fool-fangle1647

nonny-no1652

crepundian1655

fly-biting1659

pushpin1660

whinny-whanny1673

whiffle1680

straw1692

two and a plack1692

fiddle1695

trivial1715

barley-strawa1721

nothingism1742

curse1763

nihility1765

minutia1782

bee's knee1797

minutiae1797

niff-naff1808

playwork1824

floccinaucity1829

trivialism1830

chicken feed1834

nonsensical1842

meemaw1862

infinitesimality1867

pinfall1868

fidfad1875

flummadiddle1882

quantité négligeable1885

quotidian1902

pipsqueak1905

hickey1909

piddle1910

cream puff1920

squat1934

administrivia1937

chickenshit1938

cream puff1938

diddly-squat1963

non-issue1965

Tinkertoy1972

1647 N. Ward Simple Cobler Aggawam (ed. 4) 30 Ape-headed pullets, which invent Antique foole-fangles, meerly for fashion..sake.

† fool-happy adj. Obsolete bringing about a happy outcome entirely by chance or good luck; fortunate.In quot. 1918 an apparently isolated reintroduction from the dictionary record.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > prosperity > [adjective] > favoured or attended by good fortune > of the nature of good fortune

luckya1547

fool-happy1590

providential1719

jammy1853

serendipitous1965

1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene i. vi. sig. E7 His foolhappie ouersight.

1918 W. T. Hornaday Awake! America i. vi. 66 In that event we would be ‘fool-happy’,—‘lucky without judgment or prevision’.

fool-killer n. U.S. someone or something that kills foolish people, spec. a legendary character occurring in American folklore who pursues and destroys foolish people; also figurative.

ΚΠ

1836 Thomsonian Recorder 21 May 263/1 If you have any fools there, please send them; for this is the year the fool-killer is to come here, and we shall stand in great need of them.

1861 Newark (Ohio) Advocate 26 July Rum, tobacco, and tight-lacing, are the world's three great fool-killers.

1930 E. E. Leisy in J. F. Dobie Man, Bird & Beast VIII. 152 Legends concerning a ‘fool-killer’ seem prevalent enough in Texas.

2007 Guardian 17 Feb. (Work section) 2/2 An acerbic firecracker, Hogan is what Oklahomans call a ‘foolkiller’—a person who takes down the egomaniacs.

fool plough n. English regional (northern); now chiefly historical an agricultural custom held on Plough Monday (Plough Monday n.) in which farmhands draw a plough from door to door and collect money; (also) the plough used in this custom; = fond plough n. at fond adj. and n.¹ Compounds 2.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > drama > mime > mumming > [noun] > accessories

fool plough1777

stot-plough1778

fond plough1788

1777 J. Brand Observ. Pop. Antiq. xiv. 175 The Fool Plough goes about, a Pageant that consists of a Number of Sword Dancers, dragging a Plough, with Music [etc.].

1879 Chambers's Jrnl. 25 Jan. 55/1 In a few places they still draw the plough, but the sport is mostly now confined to mumming and alms-gathering. Formerly, the ‘fool-plough’, as it was called, was absolutely essential to the exhibition, and was dragged in procession to the doors of towns-folk and villagers.

2015 Yorks. Post (Nexis) 16 Mar. Walker is also fond of the curious..depicting strange Yorkshire customs such as Riding the Stang, Mid-Summer Eve and the Fool Plough.

fool trap n. something designed to deceive or take advantage of foolish, naive, or gullible people; cf. earlier fool's trap n. at Compounds 4b.

ΚΠ

1631 W. Watts tr. St. Augustine Confessions iii. vi. 119 How much better then are those fables of the Poets and Grammarians, than these foole-traps?

1691 J. Dryden King Arthur Prol. sig. A6^v Betts, at the first, were Fool Traps.

1875 H. Sampson Hist. Advertising xii. 314 There is, unfortunately, but too much reason to believe that extra prices are charged for these fool-traps, and that in the most pious and pretentious papers.

2006 R. Sharon My Wicked Pirate iv. 31 Even the brave fall lured into fool traps and dupe themselves with high and noble ideals.

fool water n. now historical strong alcoholic drink, esp. whisky or some other distilled spirit; = firewater n. 2; cf. fool's water n. at Compounds 4b.In contexts referring to indigenous peoples of North America; often in representations of their usage.

ΚΠ

1837 A. Wetmore et al. Gazetteer Missouri 290 The disturber..by the Indians appropriately named ‘fire-water’, and more emphatically ‘fool-water’, was happily beyond their reach.

1999 S. Edwards White Wolf vi. 80 But worse than those were the cravings for what her husband called the white man's fool water.

C4. Compounds with fool's:.

a. In compounds denoting the characteristic dress and accoutrements of a fool (sense A. 2) or jester, as in fool’s bladder, fool’s motley, etc. See also fool's cap n.¹, fool's coat n., fool's head n., fool's hood n. Now historical.fool's bauble: see bauble n. III.

ΚΠ

1578 H. Lyte tr. R. Dodoens Niewe Herball iii. lxxix. 428 Fashioned like a fooles bable [Fr. en forme de massue de fol].

1692 J. Washington tr. J. Milton Def. People Eng. Pref. p. xx You..deserve to have your Bones well-thrash'd with a Fool's staff [L. morionis..baculo].

1728 A. Pope Dunciad i. 72 And with her own fools-colours gilds them all.

1881 ‘Ouida’ Village Commune I. v. 164 Atheism makes a curse a mere rattle of dry peas in a fool's bladder.

1923 A. G. Hales Queen of Hearts 139 He snatched up the fool's bauble and shook it playfully.

2012 K. A. Quarmby Disguised Ruler in Shakespeare & his Contemporaries (2016) i. 31 An image of inversion—the prince, king or duke in fool's motley—that becomes a mainstay of disguised ruler drama.

b. In fixed expressions with specialized meanings. See also fool's gold n., fool's paradise n.

† fool's acre n. Obsolete a place frequented by fools; used as a fictional place name in allusive expressions indicating or implying foolish behaviour.With quot. 1603 compare Needham n.

ΚΠ

1603 H. Crosse Vertues Common-wealth sig. I2 They..come home by Need-ham crosse, and fooles acre.

1678 Country Mans Case Uncased (single sheet) Knaves Acre nine times Morgaged to fools Acre.

† fool's crochet n. Obsolete a type of crochet worked back and forth in rows, using a longer hook than in standard crochet onto which all the stitches for the row are picked up before being worked off again, creating a thick, dense fabric; now usually called Tunisian crochet (see Tunisian n. and adj. Additions).

ΘΚΠ

the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile fabric or an article of textile fabric > textile fabric > textile fabric manufactured in specific way > [noun] > consisting of loops or looped stitches > knitted fabric

spider-wevet1581

knitwork1628

knit-knot1703

tricot1859

fool's crochet1878

knitting1892

knit1963

1878 Queen Almanac for 1879 58/2 Work a square of the crochet known as Crochet Tricotée, Crochet Tunisien, Railway crochet, Fool's crochet, or Idiot stitch.

fool's errand n. a task or activity that has no hope of success; a fruitless undertaking.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > disadvantage > uselessness > uselessness, vanity, or futility > [noun] > a profitless undertaking

wild-goose race1594

wild goose chase1597

fool's erranda1629

job1680

water haul1823

rainbow chase1840

Sisyphism1846

blind alley1854

fool's gold1870

mug's game1900

Saltash luck1914

dead end1922

boondoggle1947

a1629 M. Day Serm. 1 Cor. 15 276 in Doomes-day (1636) The Spirit of God doth not meane to set men a worke with a fooles errand, to set men on worke without ensuing profit.

1705 E. Hickeringill Priest-craft 15 Did not the Pope send all the Princes in Christendom upon a Fools Errand, to gain the Holy (unholy) Land.

1884 Cent. Mag. Nov. 59/1 He was only going on a fool's errand again.

1998 C. Barker Galilee vi. vii. 350 She could waste an hour going through the room, but it was a fool's errand.

2002 S. L. Carter Emperor Ocean Park xliv. 493 ‘I see,’ I say, wondering whether I have come on a fool's errand.

fool's fire n. (a) a phosphorescent light seen hovering or floating over marshy ground or a body of water; an ignis fatuus or will-o'-the-wisp; (b) (figurative and in figurative contexts) a guiding principle, hope, or aim that deludes or misleads.Cf. foolish fire n. at foolish adj. and n. Compounds 2.

[In sense (a) after post-classical Latin ignis fatuus ignis fatuus n.]

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > light > light emitted under particular conditions > [noun] > phosphorescence > will-o'-the-wisp

fox-fire1483

foolish fire1563

ignis fatuus1563

fool's fire1583

Kit with the canstick or candlestick1584

going fire1596

will-o'-the-wisp1596

meteor1597

firedrake1607

wisp1618

ambulones1621

Dick-a-Tuesday1636

friar's lantern1645

gillian burnt-tail1654

Jill-burnt-tail1654

Jack-o'-lantern1658

fatuous fire1661

wildfire1663

wandering fire or light1667

Jack-a-Lent1680

fairy light1722

spunkie1727

Jill-o'-the-wisp1750

fen-fire1814

fatuus1820

marsh-light1823

feu follet1832

wisp-lighta1847

hob-lantern1847

ghost light1849

elf-fire1855

Peggy-with-her-lantern1855

fatuous light1857–8

marsh-fire1865

swamp fire1903

Min-Min1950

the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > thing seen > optical illusion > [noun] > an optical illusion > ignis fatuus

foolish fire1563

ignis fatuus1563

fool's fire1583

will-o'-the-wisp1596

night-fire1633

Dick-a-Tuesday1636

fatuous vapour1661

fatuus1668

draco volans1675

spunkie1727

fen-fire1814

fatuous fire1845

fatuous light1857–8

1583 J. Stockwood tr. J. von Ewich Duetie Magistrate in Time of Plague ii. v. f. 86 Y^e rouing and wandring fire (which some call fooles fire..) the which is wont to folow or go before such as trauel in y^e night.

1615 S. Ward Coal from Altar 16 Blind zeale, smoakie fire, or fooles fire, ignis fatuus..knowledge and discretion, takes wrong waies.

1696 T. Robinson Treat. Meteorol. v. in New Observ. Nat. Hist. 191 This Meteor they call Will with Wisp, or Ignis Fatuus, or Fool's Fire.

1844 H. W. Beecher Seven Lect. to Young Men 82 When it [sc. wit] sets up to be your counsellor or your guide, it is the fool's fire, flitting irregularly and leading you into the quag or morass.

1934 Sci. News Let. 15 Dec. 379/2 Oozing out of the wet muck of swamps and meeting the oxygen of the air, it [sc. methane] dances as the flickering flames known variously as ‘will-o'-the-wisp’, Jack-o'-lantern, and ignis fatuus or ‘fools' fire’.

1983 Proc. Amer. Soc. Internat. Law 77 52 An attachment to a trendy, faddish monetarism which has now been, in effect, abandoned by the Federal Reserve as the fool's fire that it was.

fool's haste n. now rare foolish or reckless haste; rashness; often in the proverbial saying fool's haste is no speed, indicating that progress is best made by not rushing or acting rashly; cf. earlier fool haste n.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > manner of action > rapidity or speed of action or operation > [noun] > haste > foolish or reckless

foolhastinessc1390

fool hastea1393

swiftnessa1400

hastec1400

racklenessc1405

headlongness1556

precipitation1572

precipitancy1617

precipitance1629

precipitousnessa1660

precipitateness1671

precipitiousness1672

fool's haste1681

1681 N. Blake Baruch's Work Finished 14 He makes fools haste, that being intent on the end,..neglects the most promising means.

1688 Compendious Schoolmaster iii. 79 A Fools haste is no speed.

a1732 T. Boston Sovereignty & Wisdom of God (1737) 46 Our faithless Out-of the-Way Attempts to even the Crook, are our Fool's Haste, that's no Speed.

1827 W. Scott Jrnl. 12 Jan. (1941) 6 I wish it [may] not prove fool's haste, yet I take as much pains to [avoid error] as is in my nature.

1909 W. J. L. Sullivan Twelve Years in Saddle 205 Our cook, whom we called Tom, came to the church in ‘fool's haste’, lit off his horse at the church door.

2014 Hobart Mercury (Nexis) 12 Nov. 16 We must avoid acting with malice, or with a fool's haste.

fool's hill n. U.S. (frequently with capital initials) a state or period of folly, irrationality, or immaturity, esp. in youth or adolescence.

ΚΠ

1874 Wisconsin Jrnl. Educ. Feb. 69/2 A superior teacher..has passed over and left far in the dim distance the fool's hill of self-perfection.

1922 L. Dalrymple Fool's Hill v. 36 Every adolescent youngster has to climb Fool's Hill.

2014 S. A. Linder Doc Holliday in Film & Lit. p. ix I apologize to all the above for my rather extended trip up Fool's Hill.

fool's mate n. (also fools' mate) Chess a form of checkmate, given on Black's second move by the queen on h4, after the advance of the g-pawn (to g4) and the f-pawn on White's first two moves; also in figurative contexts.Fool's mate is occasionally also used (particularly by non-chess players) to denote the form of checkmate given in four moves, normally called scholar's mate n. (see scholar n. Compounds 3). Unlike scholar's mate, fool's mate almost never occurs in real games, but it is notable and very familiar to chess players as the shortest possible decisive chess game.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > board game > chess > [noun] > check or checkmate

matec1330

mating?a1400

checkc1426

checkmatec1440

scholar's mate1614

fool's mate1618

scholar's check1674

perpetual check1750

smothered mate1804

sui-mate1846

selfmate1848

perpetual1966

1618 J. Barbier Saul's Famous Game Chesse-play (new ed.) xx. sig. E8 A Mate in two draughts..which Mate for him that hath given him, may well..be termd the fools mate.

1787 R. Twiss Chess I. 137 The Scholar's Mate is given in four, and the Fool's Mate in two moves.

1884 Harper's Young People 5 Feb. 219/1 I have shown you the scholar's mate and the fool's mate, partly to warn you of the danger, but more because they show you the game in its simplest form, teach you how checkmate is given, and may give you some notion of how you must look for danger.

1982 P. Kitcher Abusing Science ii. 35 The Creationist try for a quick Fools' Mate can easily be avoided.

2015 Yale Herald (Nexis) 17 Apr. 1 It's a fool's mate, a match won in only a handful of moves.

fool's trap n. something designed to deceive or take advantage of foolish, naive, or gullible people; = fool trap n. at Compounds 3.

ΚΠ

1617 W. Younger Iudahs Penance in Nurses Bosome 47 Yet this man, as deepe and as politique as he was, how grossely is he here ouer-reached euen by a seely woman; as a man may say catched in a fooles trap.

1714 E. Freke Remembrances (2001) 132 I would signe this lease and..be brought into a fools trapp to seak away eight hundred and fiffty pounds a yeare for three hundred and fiffty.

1776 H. B. Dudley Airs in Blackmoor wash'd White 18 What a whimsical figure of fun! Who baits the fool's trap for himself, And then cries aloud he's undone.

1878 Victoria (Austral.) Parl. Deb. 27 1891 I warn them not to be led into the fool's trap the Council prepare for them.

2016 Western Mail (Nexis) 5 Jan. 27 I've already fallen into the fool's trap of ‘investing’ in new gym gear (not sure clothes ever constitute an investment).

fool's water n. now historical strong alcoholic drink, esp. whisky or some other distilled spirit; = firewater n. 2; cf. fool water n. at Compounds 3.In contexts referring to indigenous peoples of North America; often in representations of their usage.

ΚΠ

1815 W. Williams & J. Eagles Jrnl. Llewellin Penrose II. xiv. 82 He then made a remark on the practice of drinking strong liquors, and said, perhaps our people did not use the same caution as the Indians, when they took fool's water.

1889 A. Featherman Social Hist. Races Mankind III. 219 They are very temperate and sober in their habits, and never make use of the white man's fool's water.

2009 L. Du Lac Mail Order Bride x. 119 Marques was too smart to allow his braves to have fool's water.

c. In plant names.

fool's ballocks n. now historical an orchid of, or formerly of, the genus Orchis, with reference to the form of the tubers; esp. the green-winged orchid, Anacamptis morio; cf. fool's stones n. [Compare post-classical Latin testiculus morionis (1568 or earlier).]

ΘΚΠ

the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular cultivated or ornamental plants > particular flower or plant esteemed for flower > [noun] > orchids > early purple orchids

standengussa1400

standelworta1500

gandergoose?1550

adder's grass1551

ragwort1552

cuckoo orchis1578

fool's ballocks1578

Palma Christi1578

standergrass1578

fool's stones1597

fox-stones1597

goat's stones1597

goat stones1597

testicles1597

dead man's finger1604

long purples1604

dead man's thumb1652

man orchis1670

monkey orchisa1678

meadow orchis1753

military orchis1784

male orchis1785

ram's horn1832

lady orchis1846

dead man's hand1853

scorpion plant1866

phalaenopsid1880

walking orchid1910

soldier orchid1934

1578 H. Lyte tr. R. Dodoens Niewe Herball ii. lvi. 222 This second kinde [of Orchis] is called..in English..Fooles Balloxe.

1920 W. E. Brenchley Weeds of Farm Land xiii. 218 Orchis morio, L.—Beldairy, bleeding willow, bull's bags, bullsegg, cuckoo, cuckoo-flower, dandy goshen, dead man's fingers, fool's ballocks, fool's stones.

2006 L. M. Adkins Wildflowers of Appalachian Trail (ed. 2) 134/2 The English variously called it [sc. orchids of the genus Orchis] ‘fool's ballocks’, ‘hares ballocks’, and ‘goat stones’.

fool's cicely n. fool's parsley, Aethusa cynapium.

ΘΚΠ

the world > plants > particular plants > plants perceived as weeds or harmful plants > poisonous or harmful plants > [noun] > fool's parsley

dog parsley1633

frog parsley1651

fool's parsley1726

fool's cicely1796

lesser hemlock1796

1796 W. Withering Arrangem. Brit. Plants (ed. 3) II. 305 Æthusa Cynapium..Fool's Cicely, Lesser Hemlock.

1914 A. E. Georgia Man. Weeds (1916) 303 Fool's Parsley... Other English names: False Parsley, Dog's Parsley, Dog Poison, Fool's Cicely.

1996 M. Seger Veil Secrets xxv. 257 ‘Could fool's cicely have done this?’ Sir Raymond asked.

fool's cress n. fool's watercress, Apium nodiflorum.

ΚΠ

1861 P. Lankester Wild Flowers 31 The Fool's-Cress, as it is called (Sium nodiflorum).

1939 ‘J. Hill’ Wild Foods of Brit. i. 23 The only plant which might be mistaken for it [sc. watercress] by the very careless is ‘Fool's Cress’ (Helosciadium nodiflorum).

2009 J. Lewis-Stempel Wild Life (2010) 207 Fool's cress has umbels of flowers down the stem, opposite the leaves.

fool's parsley n. a poisonous annual with umbels of white flowers, Aethusa cynapium (family Apiaceae), native to Eurasia and occurring widely as a weed elsewhere; also (more widely), any plant of the genus Aethusa; also called fool's cicely, lesser hemlock.

ΘΚΠ

the world > plants > particular plants > plants perceived as weeds or harmful plants > poisonous or harmful plants > [noun] > fool's parsley

dog parsley1633

frog parsley1651

fool's parsley1726

fool's cicely1796

lesser hemlock1796

1726 C. Threlkeld Synopsis Stirpium Hibernicarum sig. C4^v Cicutaria tenuifolia, cicutaria minor petroselino similis, Fool's Parsley, The Lesser Hemlock.

1816–20 T. Green Universal Herbal I. 64 Æthusa Fatua, Fine-leaved Fool's Parsley.

2014 J. Eastman Wildflowers Eastern U.S. 125/1 Several carrot family plants (most notably poison hemlock, fool's parsley, and waterhemlock) are deadly toxic.

fool's stones n. now historical an orchid of, or formerly of, the genus Orchis, with reference to the form of the tubers; esp. the early purple orchid, O. mascula (more fully male fool's stones) and the green-winged orchid, Anacamptis morio (more fully female fool's stones); cf. fool's ballocks n.

ΘΚΠ

standengussa1400

standelworta1500

gandergoose?1550

adder's grass1551

ragwort1552

cuckoo orchis1578

fool's ballocks1578

Palma Christi1578

standergrass1578

fool's stones1597

fox-stones1597

goat's stones1597

goat stones1597

testicles1597

dead man's finger1604

long purples1604

dead man's thumb1652

man orchis1670

monkey orchisa1678

meadow orchis1753

military orchis1784

male orchis1785

ram's horn1832

lady orchis1846

dead man's hand1853

scorpion plant1866

phalaenopsid1880

walking orchid1910

soldier orchid1934

1597 J. Gerard Herball i. 159 The male Foole stones hath fiue..long broad and smooth leaues.

1787 Compleat Herbal I. Pl. 47 (caption) Female Fools Stones.

1955 G. Grigson Englishman's Flora (1996) 425 De'il's foot , Berw; dog stones , Som; ducks and drakes (from ‘male’ and ‘female’ tubers), Dor; fox stones , Dor, Som; fool's stones , Ork.

2016 J. Endersby Orchid: Cultural Hist. vii. 134 The ‘grosser’ name used by shepherds would have been one of those we learned in earlier chapters, such as dog's, goat's, or fool's stones (i.e., testicles).

fool's watercress n. an aquatic herbaceous plant, Apium nodiflorum (family Apiaceae), native to western Europe and somewhat resembling watercress; also called fool's cress.

ΘΚΠ

the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > aquatic, marsh, and sea-shore plants > [noun] > water-parsley or aquatic umbellifers

water parsley1562

marsh parsley1582

hemlock (water) dropwort1597

water parsnip1597

water lovage1633

five-fingered root1747

marshwort1776

fool's watercress1837

sap-wort1844

1837 Ward's Misc. 15 Feb. 98/1 Similar accidents have arisen from mistaking fool's-watercress for the common watercress.

1960 S. Ary & M. Gregory Oxf. Bk. Wild Flowers 88/1 Fool's Watercress or Marshwort (Apium nodiflorum).

2009 D. D. Williams & C. A. Duigan Rivers Wales vi. 82/1 In more base-rich conditions in the lowlands, watercress Rorippa nasturtium-aquaticum agg. and fool's watercress Apium nodiflorum are common.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2020; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

foolv.

Brit.

/fuːl/, U.S.

/ful/

Forms: see fool n.¹ and adj.

Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: fool n.¹

Etymology: < fool n.¹ Compare foleye v., folly v., and Anglo-Norman and Middle French folier folly v.

†1. intransitive. To be or become a fool; to act or behave irrationally. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the world > health and disease > mental health > mental illness > be or become mad [verb (intransitive)]

dwelec900

wedec900

awedeeOE

starea1275

braidc1275

ravea1325

to be out of mindc1325

woodc1374

to lose one's mindc1380

madc1384

forgetc1385

to go out of one's minda1398

to wede (out) of, but wita1400

foolc1400

to go (also fall, run) mada1450

forcene1490

ragec1515

waltc1540

maddle?c1550

to go (also run, set) a-madding (or on madding)1565

pass of wita1616

to have a gad-bee in one's brain1682

madden1704

to go (also be) off at the nail1721

distract1768

craze1818

to get a rat1890

to need (to have) one's head examined (also checked, read)1896

(to have) bats in the belfryc1901

to have straws in one's hair1923

to take the bats1927

to go haywire1929

to go mental1930

to go troppo1941

to come apart1954

c1400 (?c1380) Cleanness (1920) l. 1422 So faste þay weȝed to him wyne,..wel neȝe he foles.

a1450 ( Libel Eng. Policy (Laud) in T. Wright Polit. Poems & Songs (1861) II. 188 Wyse mene seyne, whyche folyne not ne dotyne, That wylde Yrishe so much of grounde have gotyne.

1489 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (Adv.) iv. 222 Bot he fulyt [1487 St. John's Cambr. wes fule] forowtyn wer Yat gaiff throuth till yat creatur.

a. intransitive. To act unwisely or imprudently; esp. to spend one’s time in idle, ineffectual, or irresponsible activity; to fool around. Also transitive with it. Now usually in phrasal verbs, esp. to fool with —— 1 at Phrasal verbs 2, to fool around 1 at Phrasal verbs 1.in later use sometimes specifically with reference to kissing and petting; cf. to fool around 4 at Phrasal verbs 1.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > foolishness, folly > be or become foolish [verb (intransitive)] > act foolishly

dotec1225

foleyec1374

fop1528

fond1530

daff1535

pract1568

dolt1573

daw1596

fool1597

guck1603

baboonize1611

prat1685

to play the fool1722

niff-naff1728

fopple1756

doitera1790

daffle1796

tomfool1825

to play (also act) the (giddy) goat1841

lallygag1862

silly1877

monkey1878

footle1891

to ass around1899

to play silly buggers (also beggars, bleeders, etc.)1903

to arse around1919

to jackass around1927

nimble-pimble1927

to fuck about1929

to fool up1933

to crap around1936

pantomime1958

prat1961

dork1990

?1529 R. Hyrde tr. J. L. Vives Instr. Christen Woman ii. xii. sig. o^v They wene theyr husbandes loue nat theyr owne naturall children, bycause they do nat trifle and fole with them all the daye.

1597 W. Shakespeare Richard II v. v. 60 While I stand fooling heere.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Coriolanus (1623) ii. iii. 121 Rather then foole it so, Let the high Office and the Honor go.

1693 R. Ames Bacchanalian Sessions 16 The Court plainly saw how he trifled and fool'd.

1826 W. Scott Woodstock I. v. 134 Zoons, Mark Everard, I can fool it no longer.

1868 E. Bennett Phantom of Forest ii. 21 I war down in the valley thar, hunting so'thing for our supper, whilst you were fooling up he-yar.

1965 M. Hutchins Blood on Doves i. 59 Lilly walked slower and slower in the hills with her young man. Willie saw them fooling in the shed and under the apple tree.

2011 Paisley Daily Express (Nexis) 23 July 2 A group of young people passed by, fooling in the street.

†b. transitive (reflexive) and intransitive. With a prepositional phrase, esp. with into or out of, indicating one's state or condition: to take a foolish course of action to one's own detriment. Obsolete.Reflexive examples have a superficially similar structure to reflexive uses of sense 3d, which are common, esp. in modern use (see, e.g., quot. 1916 at that sense).

ΚΠ

1606 J. Marston Parasitaster (rev. ed.) iv. sig. G^v I could foole my selfe into a Lordship as I knowe some ha foole them selues out of a Lordeship.

a1640 J. Fletcher & P. Massinger Custome of Countrey v. v, in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Comedies & Trag. (1647) sig. Cc4^v/1 Must I needs foole into mine owne destruction?

1668 T. Ford Αυτοκατακριτος 184 'Tis sad to think, how most men fool themselves out of all their hopes.

1680 G. Sikes Expos. Ecclesiastes x. 437 Others, of a perfectly contrary mind, fool themselves into eternal damnation.

c. intransitive. Originally: to play the role of the fool (fool n.¹ 2a) or jester. Later usually more generally: to behave in a playful or silly way, esp. in order to make people laugh; to joke; to tease. Now usually in phrasal verbs, esp. to fool about at Phrasal verbs 1, to fool around 2 at Phrasal verbs 1, to fool with —— 2 at Phrasal verbs 2.Recorded earliest in to fool up at Phrasal verbs 1. See also quot. 1606 at sense 2b, where the speaker is a fool and the first instance of fool within the quot. hence involves a reference to this role.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > performance of jester or comedian > perform as jester or comedian [verb (intransitive)]

juggle1377

clown1600

fool1640

to fool up1640

the mind > emotion > pleasure > laughter > causing laughter > cause laughter [verb (intransitive)] > jest or joke

gameOE

jest1553

mow1559

cog1588

to break a jest1589

droll1654

joke1670

fool1673

crack a jest1721

crack a joke1753

pleasant1848

humorize1851

rot1896

kibitz1923

gag1942

1640 J. Fletcher & J. Shirley Night-walker v. sig. K4^v Ile foole up, and provoke yee [to be merry].

1642 J. Denham Sophy iv. 29 If you have the luck to be Court fooles, those that have Either wit or honesty, you may foole withall and spare not.

1673 T. Shadwell Epsom-Wells iii. 50 I but what do you mean by this, you are always fooling thus before Company.

1810 Sporting Mag. 36 269 I do not think this man was taken to the watch-house because he was fooling.

1947 C. E. Legg et al. School-and-work Programs (U.S. Govt.) 44 School kids are unsatisfactory as bus boys. They do not pay attention to work, always fooling.

2011 Daily News (N.Y.) (Nexis) 27 Sept. 16 She knew I was just fooling.

a. transitive. To make (someone) appear foolish; to treat like a fool, make a fool of; (in later use usually) spec. to trick or deceive (someone). See also sense 3d.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > cheating, fraud > duping, making a fool of > befool, cheat, dupe [verb (transitive)]

belirtOE

bitruflea1250

begab1297

bobc1320

bedaffc1386

befool1393

mock1440

triflea1450

glaik?a1513

bedawa1529

fond?1529

allude1535

gulla1550

dolt1553

dor1570

poop1575

colt1579

foolify1581

assot1583

noddify1583

begecka1586

elude1594

wigeona1595

fool1598

noddy1600

fop1602

begull1605

waddle1606

woodcockize1611

bemocka1616

greasea1625

noddypoop1640

truff1657

bubble1668

cully1676

coaxc1679

dupe1704

to play off1712

noodle1769

idiotize1775

oxify1804

tomfool1835

sammyfoozle1837

trail1847

pipe lay1848

pigwidgeon1852

green1853

con1896

rib1912

shuck1959

1598 W. Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 1 i. iii. 176 That you are foold, discarded, and shooke off By him, for whom these shames ye vnderwent.

1645 R. Laugharne Two Lett. sent to W. Lenthal 4 Publishing a Declaration which so fooled the people, that they were resolved to venture their Ruine in the prosecution thereof.

1663 A. Cowley Ode Ld. Broghill's Verses in Verses Several Occasions 2 Be gon..Ingrateful Muse, and see What others thou can'st fool as well as me.

1706 R. Estcourt Fair Example iv. i This Gentleman..that has fool'd your Faith, wou'd betray your Honour.

1786 R. Burns Poems 230 As father Adam first was fool'd.

1818 Ld. Byron Childe Harold: Canto IV clviii. 82 This Outshining and o'erwhelming edifice Fools our fond gaze.

1867 A. Trollope Last Chron. Barset I. xxxviii. 336 [He] ought not to have been fooled by such a woman.

1944 T. Rattigan While Sun Shines i. 32 You're not fooling anyone, Babe, but yourself.

1973 New Scientist 2 Aug. 243/2 There are perhaps six people in Britain..and 20 in the US who would understand the science of tape editing well enough to try to fool the experts.

2003 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 20 Apr. iv. 4/1 Don't be fooled by the few ultragreen gas/electric hybrids you'll hear about.

†b. transitive. figurative. To frustrate or ruin (a person’s plans, hopes, etc.). Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > difficulty > hindrance > hindering completely or preventing > hinder completely or prevent [verb (transitive)] > thwart or foil

false?c1225

confoundc1315

blenk?a1400

matea1400

interrupt1464

blench1485

fruster?a1513

frustrate?a1513

infatuate1533

disappoint1545

prevent1555

foila1564

blank1566

thwart1581

confute1589

dispurpose1607

shorten1608

foola1616

vain1628

balk1635

throwa1650

scotch1654

bafflea1674

crossbar1680

transverse1770

tomahawk1773

throttle1825

wreck1855

stultify1865

derail1889

to pull the plug1923

rank1924

a1616 W. Shakespeare Antony & Cleopatra (1623) v. ii. 221 Why that's the way to foole their preparation.

1682 T. Hoy tr. Ovid Two Ess. 23 The least Delay your fairest Hopes may fool.

1887 Boston Daily Globe 29 Dec. 4/5 Death,..after a struggle of months, finally stooped to fool his hopes.

c. transitive. To take or gain (something) from someone by trickery or deception; esp. to swindle (money) from. Usually with away from, out of. Now chiefly U.S.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > possession > taking > stealing or theft > defrauding or swindling > perpetrate (a swindle) [verb (transitive)] > take by swindling

wipec1000

fleece1537

fraud1570

shark1613

boba1616

foola1616

rook1647

sharp1707

escroc1738

swindle1779

skelder1822

the mind > possession > taking > stealing or theft > defrauding or swindling > perpetrate (a swindle) [verb (transitive)] > defraud or swindle > out of something

beguile1394

wrongc1484

delude1493

licka1500

to wipe a person's nose1577

uncle1585

cheat1597

cozen1602

to bob of1605

to bob out of1605

gull1612

foola1616

to set in the nick1616

to worm (a person) out of1617

shuffle1627

to baffle out of1652

chouse1654

trepan1662

bubble1668

trick1698

to bamboozle out of1705

fling1749

jockey1772

swindle1780

twiddle1825

to diddle out of1829

nig1829

to chisel out of1848

to beat out1851

nobble1852

duff1863

flim-flam1890

a1616 W. Shakespeare Twelfth Night (1623) v. i. 37 You can foole no more money out of mee at this throw.

1888 Belleville (Kansas) Telescope 25 Oct. Riches can be stole, or lost, or fooled away from us.

1910 Everybody's Mag. June 840/1 Couldn't he have fooled it [sc. the combination to a safe] out of her, if she had known?

1923 Cape Vincent (N.Y.) 16 Aug. Their money was fooled away from them by the glittering promises of an unscrupulous broker.

2011 seekingalpha.com 5 May (comment on blog, accessed 12 June 2020) Once again they are raking in cash fooled out of small investors' pockets.

d. transitive. To cheat or swindle (a person) out of something; to dupe or lure (a person) into something unpleasant or undesirable (with the result or aim of the deception indicated by a prepositional phrase following the verb). Now usually with into, out of. See also sense 3a.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > will > motivation > attraction, allurement, or enticement > attract, allure, or entice [verb (transitive)]

teec888

tightc1000

drawc1175

tollc1220

till?c1225

ticec1275

bringc1300

entice1303

win1303

wina1340

tempt1340

misdrawa1382

wooa1387

lure1393

trainc1425

allurea1450

attract?a1475

lock1481

enlure1486

attice1490

allect1518

illect?1529

wind1538

disarm1553

call1564

troll1565

embait1567

alliciate1568

slock1594

enamour1600

court1602

inescate1602

fool1620

illure1638

magnetize1658

trepana1661

solicit1665

whistle1665

drill1669

inveigh1670

siren1690

allicit1724

wisea1810

come-hither1954

the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > snare, trap, entanglement > entrap, ensnare [verb (transitive)]

shrenchc897

beswike971

betrapa1000

bewindOE

undernimc1175

undertakec1175

bisayc1200

beguile?c1225

catchc1225

beginc1250

biwilea1275

tele?a1300

enginec1300

lime13..

umwrithea1340

engrin1340

oblige1340

belimec1350

enlacec1374

girnc1375

encumber138.

gnarec1380

enwrap1382

briguea1387

snarl1387

upbroid1387

trap1390

entrikea1393

englue1393

gildera1400

aguilec1400

betraisec1400

embrygec1400

snare1401

lacea1425

maska1425

begluec1430

marl1440

supprise?c1450

to prey ona1500

attrap1524

circumvene1526

entangle1526

tangle1526

entrap1531

mesh1532

embrake1542

crawl1548

illaqueate1548

intricate1548

inveigle1551

circumvent1553

felter1567

besnare1571

in trick1572

ensnare1576

overcatch1577

underfong1579

salt1580

entoil1581

comprehend1584

windlassa1586

folda1592

solicit1592

toil1592

bait1600

beset1600

engage1603

benet1604

imbrier1605

ambush1611

inknot1611

enmesha1616

trammela1616

fool1620

pinion1621

aucupate1630

fang1637

surprise1642

underreacha1652

trepan1656

ensnarl1658

stalk1659

irretiate1660

coil1748

nail1766

net1803

to rope in1840

mousetrap1870

spider1891

1620 J. Melton Astrologaster 51 He doth on the Cards foole many people out of their money.

1624 E. Bolton Nero Caesar xv. 33 Hauing foold her into full beliefe of his sincerenesse.., he held her..till somewhat late in the night.

1678 A. Marvell Acct. Growth Popery (new ed.) 28 The Additional Excise..which the Tripple League had fooled them into.

1715 R. South 12 Serm. IV. 149 Such as come to be thus happily frighted into their Wits, are not so easily fooled out of them again.

1833 H. Blunt Lect. Hist. St. Paul II. 200 It fools you into the belief that [etc.].

1841–4 R. W. Emerson Polit. in Wks. (1906) I. 237 Nature..will not be fooled or abated of any jot of her authority.

1916 J. A. Guthrie Seeing World through Porthole 104 We may fool ourselves into believing that man is the leader.

1973 Hutchinson (Kansas) News 18 Feb. 4/5 No self-appointed bigot is going to fool me out of my rights.

2013 R. B. Gasaway Situational Awareness for Emergency Response 342 Don't be fooled into a false sense of security.

†4. transitive. To reduce (a person) to foolishness or irrationality; to infatuate. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > foolishness, folly > make foolish or a fool of [verb (transitive)]

bedotec1385

fona1425

fool1608

to put the ass (also fool) upon (also on)1617

stultify1809

1608 W. Shakespeare King Lear vii. 434 Foole me not to much, To beare it lamely, touch me with noble anger.

1642 J. Denham Sophy iii. 25 Hee's so fool'd with downe-right honesty, Hee'le ne're beleeve it.

1671 W. Vaughan tr. M. Baudier Hist. Admin. Cardinal Ximines vi. 34 This Princess fool'd with the Love of a Lump of dead flesh, would by no means part with it till Ferdinand her Father returned from Italy, caused it to be taken from her, and buryed privately.

1676 J. Dryden Aureng-Zebe iv. 49 When I consider Life, 'tis all a cheat; Yet, fool'd with hope, men favour the deceit.

†5. transitive. To waste or squander (something valuable) in foolish or idle pursuits; esp. to fritter away (one’s time). Cf. to fool away at Phrasal verbs 1. Obsolete.Less common than to fool away in all periods.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > inaction > idleness, lack of occupation or activity > cause to be idle or inactive [verb (transitive)] > occupy oneself triflingly with > waste (time) in trifling activity

trifle outa1450

trifle1532

loiter1549

picklea1568

toy1575

trifle1587

rust1604

to idle (time) away1652

fool1657

to dally away1685

dangle1727

to piddle away1743

peddle1866

potter1883

putter1911

gold-brick1918

1657 Bp. H. King Poems, Elegies, Paradoxes & Sonnets 125 Men that live thus, as if they liv'd in jest, Fooling their time with Musick and a feast.

1728 E. Young Love of Fame ii, in Wks. (1757) I. 91 What crime In such a paradise to fool their time?

1853 C. Reade Peg Woffington xiii. 279 My life on it, whilst I have been fooling my time here, she is in the field, with all the arts of our sex, simplicity at the head of them.

1895 J. M. Wright Her Ready-made Family i. 13 She takes boarders and don't fool her money on dress.

1920 Akron (Iowa) Reg.-Tribune 1 July I think I told you quite plainly, ladies, that I was busy and did not want to be bothered dressing, talking and fooling my time when I wanted to study.

Phrases

colloquial (originally U.S.). you could have fooled me: used to express cynicism, doubt, or disbelief about an assertion.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > belief > disbelief, incredulity > expressing disbelief [phrase]

do you mean to say (also to tell me)1763

you don't mean to say (also to tell me)1763

tell that to the marines1806

in a horn1847

you are (or have got to be) joking1907

tie that bull outside or to another ashcan1921

you could have fooled me1926

you wouldn't read about it1950

pull the other one (it's got bells on)1966

the mind > language > statement > speaking against or contradiction > speak against or contradict [phrase]

you could have fooled me1926

1926 Richfield (Utah) Reaper Aug. 1/4 ‘There are a good many splendid Democrats that could be nominated and elected.’ ‘You could have fooled me,’ replied Doc.

1951 J. Reach My Friend Irma ii. ii. 60 Kropotkin. For a long time, I've been wanting to say them to you. Mrs. O'Reilly. Have you, now? Well, you could've fooled me.

1985 P. Clothier Chiaroscuro xvii. 72 The students were reputed to be the pick of the crop. You could have fooled me. Barely a handful of them could draw.

2015 P. Hall Puzzled Indemnity xxxviii. 146 ‘I wasn't talking about Stephanie.’ ‘Really? You could have fooled me.’

Phrasal verbs

PV1. With adverbs in specialized senses. to fool about

intransitive. = to fool around at Phrasal verbs 1; esp. to behave in a frivolous, playful, or silly way; to muck about.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > inaction > idleness, lack of occupation or activity > be idle or unoccupied [verb (intransitive)] > potter or waste time in trifling activity

trifle?a1400

loiterc1400

tiffc1440

tifflec1440

to pick a salad1520

to play the wanton1529

fiddle1530

dauntc1540

piddle1545

dally?1548

pittlea1568

pingle1574

puddle1591

to thrum caps1594

maginate1623

meecha1625

pudder1624

dabble1631

fanfreluche1653

dawdlea1656

taigle17..

niff-naff1728

tiddle1747

peddle1755

gammer1788

quiddle1789

muddle1791

browse1803

niddle1808

poke1811

fal-lal1818

potter1824

footer1825

putter1827

shaffle1828

to fool about1838

mike1838

piffle1847

mess1853

to muck about1856

tinker1856

bohemianize1857

to fool around1860

frivol1866

june1869

muss1876

to muddle about (also around)1877

slummock1877

dicker1888

moodle1893

to fart about1899

to fart about (or around)1899

plouter1899

futz1907

monkey1916

to arse around1919

to play around1929

to fuck around1931

tool1932

frig1933

boondoggle1935

to muck around1935

to screw around1935

to bugger about1937

to bugger around1939

to piss about1943

to dick around1948

to jerk around1953

fart-arse1954

to fanny around1969

slop1973

dork1982

to twat around (or about)1992

to dick about1996

1838 Herald of Freedom (Concord, New Hampsh.) 22 Dec. 171/4 It is an idiot blue jay,—such as you see fooling about among the shrub oaks.

1861 T. Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. I. xii. 224 You and I, perhaps, go fooling about with him, and get rusticated.

1942 F. Sargeson in N.Z. New Writing 1 5 We'd fool about in the water.

1990 T. McEwen McX (1991) i. 48 McPint likes alcohol made in monasteries. Men of God don't fool about. They have good reasons to get rat-faced.

2010 D. Miller Sea Wolf (e-book ed.) xxvi ‘Cut it out, you two!’ she snapped at the boys, assuming they were fooling about.

to fool along

Originally and chiefly U.S.

1. intransitive. To undertake an action, venture, etc., in an aimless, inattentive, or dilatory manner.

ΚΠ

1834 D. Crockett Narr. Life viii. 124 I lived to see these times, which I should not have done if I had kept fooling along in war.

1866 C. H. Smith Bill Arp, so Called 44 You get a government contract for a few thousand pounds and you fool along with it, selling what you make to these drug men at a bigger price.

1901 A. B. Paine Van Dwellers xii. 167 We did not like to fool along this way, an eighth up and an eighth, or a quarter down, and all uncertainty and tension.

1996 CNN (Nexis) 19 June I've waited all this time, and now are they going to fool along with the trial.

2. intransitive. To move or travel in an unhurried, leisurely way.

ΚΠ

1884 ‘M. Twain’ Adventures Huckleberry Finn xxxiii. 285 You turn back and fool along slow, so as to get to the house about the time you ought to.

1934 H. Vines Green Thicket World 20 They fooled along and did not much try to reach the ferryman's house.

1982 D. Francis Twice Shy (2010) 55 He had been fooling along in second gear, believing no doubt that a gun was enough.

to fool around

1. intransitive. To pass the time in idle or unfocused activity; to work at something without definite purpose or serious intent; to mess about, tinker.Sometimes with the stronger implication that the activity is foolish, typically because dangerous or irresponsible; cf. to fool with —— 1 at Phrasal verbs 2.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > inaction > idleness, lack of occupation or activity > be idle or unoccupied [verb (intransitive)] > potter or waste time in trifling activity

trifle?a1400

loiterc1400

tiffc1440

tifflec1440

to pick a salad1520

to play the wanton1529

fiddle1530

dauntc1540

piddle1545

dally?1548

pittlea1568

pingle1574

puddle1591

to thrum caps1594

maginate1623

meecha1625

pudder1624

dabble1631

fanfreluche1653

dawdlea1656

taigle17..

niff-naff1728

tiddle1747

peddle1755

gammer1788

quiddle1789

muddle1791

browse1803

niddle1808

poke1811

fal-lal1818

potter1824

footer1825

putter1827

shaffle1828

to fool about1838

mike1838

piffle1847

mess1853

to muck about1856

tinker1856

bohemianize1857

to fool around1860

frivol1866

june1869

muss1876

to muddle about (also around)1877

slummock1877

dicker1888

moodle1893

to fart about1899

to fart about (or around)1899

plouter1899

futz1907

monkey1916

to arse around1919

to play around1929

to fuck around1931

tool1932

frig1933

boondoggle1935

to muck around1935

to screw around1935

to bugger about1937

to bugger around1939

to piss about1943

to dick around1948

to jerk around1953

fart-arse1954

to fanny around1969

slop1973

dork1982

to twat around (or about)1992

to dick about1996

1860 Quincy (Illinois) Weekly Whig & Republican 14 July You may fool around..and try to straddle this question, but it won't amount to anything.

1885 Cent. Mag. 29 545/1 They [sc. the pursuers] seemed to stop and fool around awhile.

1951 Megaphone (Georgetown, Texas) (Student's Assoc. Southwestern Univ.) 23 Mar. 3/3 This guy after getting the idea..tinkered, puttered, jacked, and fooled around for 15 or 20 years and finally this machine emerged.

2002 Time 26 Aug. a10/1 Environmentalists worry that fooling around with genes is a recipe for Frankensteinian disaster.

2004 B. Dylan Chronicles Vol. 1 iv. 190 At about three in the morning we..just started playing any old stuff... Just fooling around, playing like we were on a party boat.

2. intransitive. To behave in a playful, joking, or silly way; to muck about.Frequently with the connotation that the behaviour is irritating, and sometimes more strongly, irresponsible.

ΚΠ

1878 Cornelian 1877–8 86 Monkey, to fool around.

1895 Helena (Montana) Weekly Independent 12 Dec. 5/1 ‘You say that Mr. Horsky was always fooling around?’ responded the attorney. ‘Yes; he is always acting the dunce,’ was the reply.

1938 J. Fante Wait until Spring, Bandini (1983) i. 37 ‘For Christ's sake!’ he said. ‘Will you drink that milk and quit fooling around?’

1992 B. Geist Little League Confidential iii. 33 Focus is always the problem. Kids like to fool around too much these days. They can't concentrate anymore.

2016 Times of India (Nexis) 5 Jan. I might be childish and might fool around all the time but I do have a romantic side to me.

3. intransitive. To engage in a casual sexual relationship, esp. to have sexual relationship with someone who is married or who is not one's usual partner; to have an affair. Also: to be habitually unfaithful to one's partner. Frequently with with.

ΘΚΠ

society > morality > moral evil > licentiousness > unchastity > [verb (intransitive)] > be promiscuous

to play legerdeheel1605

to put it about1817

to do the (also a) naughty1902

to fool around1923

sleep1928

to play around1929

alleycat1937

to screw around1939

bed-hop1943

tom1950

horse1953

to whore it up1956

swing1964

society > morality > moral evil > licentiousness > unchastity > [verb (intransitive)] > be unfaithful

to fool around1923

to cheat on1934

two-time1975

1923 S. Anderson Horses & Men 52 It is better not to fool around with a young girl or with some other man's wife.

1978 P. Grace Mutuwhenua iv. 16 You fool around with my girl and I'll boot your head.

1980 Los Angeles Times 2 Nov. (Bk. Review) 12/3 He fools around on his wife.

2013 Afr. News (Nexis) 10 Oct. After the house girl saga, this ninja went ahead to fool around with his wife's cousin who had come over for a brief stay. True story.

4. intransitive. To engage in kissing, petting, etc., with someone (as opposed to having sexual intercourse).

ΘΚΠ

the mind > emotion > love > action of caressing > caress or make a show of affection [verb (intransitive)] > fondle, embrace, or caress

neck1825

to fool around1959

1959 W. Brown Teen-age Mafia 34 You and me, we ain't done nothing but fool around like a couple of babies. Do you think I like it, getting worked up every night and never getting no more?

1994 A. Birnbaum tr. H. Murakami Dance Dance Dance (1995) 145 But we didn't go all the way, as we used to say. We only fooled around.

2006 Myrtle Beach (S. Carolina) Sun-News (Nexis) 6 Oct. 34 I finally gave in and fooled around with him on the fourth night (no sex).

to fool away

transitive. To waste or squander (something valuable) in foolish or idle pursuits; esp. to fritter away (one’s time or money).

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > disadvantage > uselessness > misuse > [verb (transitive)] > waste

spilla1000

scatter1154

aspilla1250

rospa1325

waste1340

spend1390

consumec1425

waste1474

miswenda1500

forsumea1510

to cast away1530

to throw away1561

embezzle1578

squander1593

palter1595

profuse1611

squander1611

ravel1614

sport1622

to fool away1628

to stream out1628

to fribble away1633

sweal1655

frisk1665

to fiddle away1667

wantonize1673

slattera1681

swattle1681

drivel1686

swatter1690

to muddle away1707

squander1717

sot1746

slattern1747

meisle1808

fritter1820

waster1821

slobber1837

to cut to waste1863

fringe1863

potter1883

putter1911

profligate1938

to piddle away1942

haemorrhage1978

spaff2002

1628 G. Wither Britain's Remembrancer iii. f. 80^v Foole thy life away By tempting Heav'n.

1647 tr. J. Böhme Way to Christ xv. 23 He hath fooled away so great a Glory for so frivolous vanitie, and false delights sake.

1660 S. Pepys Diary 1 June (1970) I. 166 Where I..fooled away all the afternoon.

1711 J. Swift Jrnl. to Stella 9 July (1948) I. 310 I have fooled away too much money that way already.

1863 C. C. Clarke Shakespeare-characters xx. 507 He fools away his time, his money, and his health.

1933 A. G. Chater tr. S. Undset Ida Elizabeth (2011) ii. ii God knows how she had managed to fool away her life so completely.

2018 L. T. McDonnell Performing Disunion xvi. 340 While others fooled time away with tilting or chess or political factionalism, the fireman was urban America's Galahad.

† to fool off

1. transitive. To trick or deceive (someone). Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > cheating, fraud > trickery, playing jokes > trick, hoax [verb (transitive)]

jape1362

bejape1377

play1562

jugglea1592

dally1595

trick1595

bore1602

jadea1616

to fool off1631

top1663

whiska1669

hocus1675

to put a sham upon1677

sham1677

fun?1685

to put upon ——1687

rig1732

humbug1750

hum1751

to run a rig1764

hocus-pocus1774

cram1794

hoax1796

kid1811

string1819

to play off1821

skylark1823

frisk1825

stuff1844

lark1848

kiddy1851

soap1857

to play it (on)1864

spoof1889

to slip (something) over (on)1912

cod1941

to pull a person's chain1975

game1996

1631 B. Jonson Divell is Asse ii. vi. 122 in Wks. II The Divell is an Asse! fool'd off! and beaten!

1635 J. Reynolds Triumphs Gods Revenge (new ed.) v. xxii. 467 Hee..fooles her off with this flamme, That he hath effectually invocated and raised his Spirit.

1650 J. Trapp Clavis to Bible (Gen. xxi. 1) 162 He fools them not off with fair promises.

2. transitive. To delay or avoid (something) by use of deception or trickery. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > evasive deception, shiftiness > evade [verb (transitive)] > put off

pop1530

to put off1569

to fode forth (also occasionally forward, off, on, out)1591

to shift offc1592

foist1598

to fob off1600

fub1600

to shuffle off1604

doffa1616

jig1633

to trump upa1640

whiffle1654

to fool off1664

sham1682

drill1752

to set off1768

to put by1779

jilt1782

palm1822

stall1829

job1872

to give (a person) the go-around1925

1664 H. More Modest Enq. Myst. Iniquity ii. xx. 456 But so manifest Eviction..will not be fooled off for ever.

a1704 R. L'Estrange Fables Moralized (1708) lxix. 57 This Reproche was as pleasantly Fool'd-off as the Subject would well bear.

† to fool on

intransitive. To spend one’s time in idle or aimless pursuits; to behave in a frivolous or silly way. Obsolete.

ΚΠ

1667 R. L'Estrange tr. F. de Quevedo Visions vi. 250 He could not fool on, to the End of the Chapter.

1677 T. Sheridan Disc. Rise & Power Parl. 80 Let them fool on that have nothing else to do.

1753 S. Richardson Hist. Sir Charles Grandison IV. xxxiii. 228 How you..fooled on with us, before you came to confession!

† to fool out

transitive. To lose or give up (something valuable) through foolishness or recklessness; to squander. Cf. to fool away at Phrasal verbs 1. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > possession > relinquishing > squandering or prodigality > squander [verb (transitive)]

forspendc893

scatter1154

dispend1303

waste1340

misspendc1390

miswastec1400

consumec1425

waste1474

profund1527

lasha1535

prodige1538

lavish1542

to play away1562

riot1566

embezzle1578

dilapidate1590

squander1593

confound1598

to make ducks and drakes of or withc1600

prodigalize1611

profuse1611

squander1611

paddle1616

bezzle1617

to run out of ——1622

to piss away1628

prodigal1628

decoct1629

to bangle (away)1632

debauch1632

deboise1632

to fribble away1633

to fool out1635

to run outa1640

to fiddle away1667

slattera1681

dissipate1682

to play off1693

duck-and-drake1700

liquidate1702

sparkle away1703

waster1821

befool1861

to frivol away1866

to play (at) duck and drake with1872

to fling away1873

mislive1887

slather1904

mucker1928

profligate1938

peter1956

spaff2002

1635 G. Wither Coll. Emblemes iv. xlix. 257 As if you..had a Life, or twaine To live, when you had fool'd out this in vaine.

1641 E. Dering Coll. Speeches on Relig. 22 Nov. (1642) xv. 69 Let no Ammonite perswade the Gileadite to foole out his right eye.

1651 Detection Faults Unskilful Physitians Pref. sig. I5^v, in R. Record Urinal of Physick (new ed.) I scarce beleeve any wiseman would fool out a groat on your judgement.

to fool round

intransitive. = to fool around at Phrasal verbs 1 (in various senses).

ΚΠ

1850 R. Hardy Hist. & Adventures Cuban Exped. i. 14 I would find him pretending to work, but merely fooling round.

1894 E. V. B. Matthews tr. L. Halévy Parisian Points of View 168 Instead of fooling round with little white women in Paris, he will fool round with little yellow ones at Singapore.

1935 D. L. Sayers Gaudy Night vii. 147 There are much better ways of enjoying Oxford than fooling round..with the women students.

2009 Sun (Nexis) 28 Apr. 12 Moments later she was grinning again as she fooled round with a little bugle.

to fool up

†a. intransitive. To play the role of the fool or jester . Obsolete.Quot. a1625 has been interpreted by some later editors as showing to fool up, although the punctuation of 17th-cent. editions suggests fool is a noun.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > performance of jester or comedian > perform as jester or comedian [verb (intransitive)]

juggle1377

clown1600

fool1640

to fool up1640

a1625 J. Fletcher Mad Lover v. iv, in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Comedies & Trag. (1647) sig. D3/1 Foole, up sirra, You may chance get a dinner.]

1640 J. Fletcher & J. Shirley Night-walker v. sig. K4^v Ile foole up, and provoke yee [to be merry].

b. intransitive. Chiefly U.S. To behave in a playful, silly, or joking way; (also) to flirt.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > emotion > love > flirtation or coquetry > flirt, philander, or dally [verb (intransitive)]

flicker?c1225

dallyc1440

mird?c1625

pickeer1646

to dally away1685

niggle1696

coquet1700

gallant1744

philander1778

flirt1781

fike1804

gallivant1823

butterfly1893

vamp1904

romance1907

to fool up1933

floss1938

cop1940

horse1953

the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > foolishness, folly > be or become foolish [verb (intransitive)] > act foolishly

dotec1225

foleyec1374

fop1528

fond1530

daff1535

pract1568

dolt1573

daw1596

fool1597

guck1603

baboonize1611

prat1685

to play the fool1722

niff-naff1728

fopple1756

doitera1790

daffle1796

tomfool1825

to play (also act) the (giddy) goat1841

lallygag1862

silly1877

monkey1878

footle1891

to ass around1899

to play silly buggers (also beggars, bleeders, etc.)1903

to arse around1919

to jackass around1927

nimble-pimble1927

to fuck about1929

to fool up1933

to crap around1936

pantomime1958

prat1961

dork1990

1933 C. Miller Lamb in Bosom 129 Why had he ever fooled up with her?

1965 L. Meyer Customer is Always iii. 50 The boss has a theory about customers. If you take time to fool up with the impossible ones you'll have no time for the nice ones.

1997 T. McClain-Watson Plenty Good Room iv. 99 I rather be dead than fool up with a fool like him!

2. transitive. Chiefly U.S. and Caribbean. To deceive or trick (someone). Cf. sense 3a.

ΚΠ

1877 Testimony Denial Elective Franchise S. Carolina Elections 1875 & 1876 I. 103 in U.S. Congress. Serial Set (44th Congr., 2nd Sess.: Senate Misc. Doc. No. 48) VI We were fooled up by the northern people.

1914 H. G. de Lisser Jane's Career i. 4 Don't allow any of those Kingston buoy to fool you up.

2019 @aquarina 27 Sept. in twitter.com (accessed 16 June 2020) People will tell you anything to fool you up. you gotta know the truth and be confident with it.

PV2. With prepositions in specialized senses. to fool round —— (also to fool around ——)

U.S. colloquial. Now rare.

intransitive. To hang or loiter around (someone); spec. to flirt with. Cf. to fool around at Phrasal verbs 1, to fool round at Phrasal verbs 1.

ΚΠ

1839 Morning Herald (N.Y.) 16 Sept. You come fool round dis child, you get a chuck.

1846 Knickerbocker Oct. 355 That young carpenter, Jack Plane, is fooling around the girl.

1901 S. R. M. Greene Flood-tide viii. 59 She got to foolin' 'round him an' fingerin' the button-hole on his coat.

1954 in Dict. Amer. Regional Eng. (1991) II. He's a-foolin' 'round that old hussy all time.

to fool with ——

1. intransitive. To toy, meddle, or interfere with (someone or something); to mess about with. Now often with the implication that the activity is foolish, typically because dangerous or irresponsible.

ΚΠ

?1644 J. Taylor Most Curious Mercurius Brittanicus Answer'd 7 I could fool with the quondam Grooms name.

1676 W. Wycherley Plain-dealer iv. i My heart is too much in earnest to be fooled with.

?1747 State of Nation Consider'd 20 We are suspended between Hope and Fears, trifling with a War, and fooling with Negociations.

1884 Manch. Examiner 28 June 4/6 The accused..began fooling with a loaded gun.

1888 Detroit Free Press 6 Oct. 1/4 You don't want to fool with those Quakers any, and don't you forget it.

1934 J. M. Cain Postman always rings Twice viii. 71 I began to fool with her blouse, to bust the buttons, so she would look banged up.

1992 N. Maclean Young Men & Fire i. i. 36 When you fool with a backfire, you are really fooling with fire.

2010 Sci. Amer. (U.K. ed.) Mar. 68/2 Don't phone and drive, don't fool with the MP3 player and drive.

2. intransitive. To tease, joke with (someone).

ΚΠ

1900 G. Patten Rockspur Nine i. 16 Really and truly, you chaps are too easy! We've just been fooling with you.

1995 R. E. Nichols Birds Algonquin Legend 84 I was only fooling with you, little brother, and you took me seriously!

2011 @tomcat0506 23 July in twitter.com (accessed 16 June 2020) Only fooling with you m8, I'm not the spelling police.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2020; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

单词	fool
释义	fooln.¹adj. Brit. /fuːl/, U.S. /ful/ Forms: Middle English ffoles (plural), Middle English ffool, Middle English ffoole, Middle English ffuyll, Middle English foell, Middle English fol, Middle English foll, Middle English folle, Middle English foul, Middle English fowle, Middle English fowlle, Middle English foyl, Middle English foyle, Middle English foyll, Middle English ful, Middle English–1500s foule, Middle English–1600s fole, Middle English–1600s foole, Middle English–1600s fooll, Middle English (1900s– Irish English (northern)) fule, Middle English– fool, late Middle English fulies (plural), 1500s foolle, 1500s vool (southern), 1800s fael (Irish English (northern)), 1900s– foo' (U.S., nonstandard), 2000s– foo (U.S., nonstandard); English regional (chiefly northern) 1600s 1800s foo, 1700s–1800s fuil, 1800s faal (Yorkshire), 1800s feul, 1800s feull, 1800s fule, 1800s– feeal (Yorkshire), 1800s– fooal, 1800s– fooil; Scottish pre-1700 foel, pre-1700 foill, pre-1700 fole, pre-1700 follis (plural), pre-1700 foole, pre-1700 foule, pre-1700 foull, pre-1700 fowl, pre-1700 fowle, pre-1700 foyl, pre-1700 foyll, pre-1700 fuile, pre-1700 fuill, pre-1700 fuille, pre-1700 ful, pre-1700 full, pre-1700 fulle, pre-1700 fuyl, pre-1700 fuyll, pre-1700 fwil, pre-1700 fwill, pre-1700 fwle, pre-1700 fwyll, pre-1700 1700s– fool, pre-1700 1700s– fule, pre-1700 1800s– fuil, 1700s– feel (chiefly northern), 1800s feil (Aberdeenshire), 1800s füil (Shetland), 1800s fül (Shetland), 1900s– feul (Orkney), 1900s– föl (Shetland). N.E.D. (1897) also records a form Middle English–1500s foulee. Origin: A borrowing from French. Etymon: French fol. Etymology: < Anglo-Norman fool, foole, Anglo-Norman and Old French, Middle French fol, Anglo-Norman and Middle French (rare) foul (French fou ) (noun) foolish person, unwise person (c1100; the sense ‘jester, clown’ is apparently not paralleled in French until later than in English: 1580), (adjective) foolish, unwise, stupid (c1100), wicked, sinful (early 12th cent.), lustful, lewd, wanton (early 13th cent.) < classical Latin follis bag, sack, money bag, purse, large inflated ball, bellows, in post-classical Latin also arrogant person, person who speaks foolishly (4th or 5th cent. in Augustine; from 10th cent. in British sources), (adjective) foolish (9th cent.) < the same Indo-European base as bowl n.¹Compare post-classical Latin follus foolish (9th cent.; from 13th cent. in British sources), fool (13th cent. in British sources), Old Occitan fol, folh, Catalan foll (11th cent.), adjective and noun, Italian folle (late 12th cent. as adjective, early 13th cent. as noun). In modern French the masculine adjective and noun has the forms fou, (before a vowel) fol, while the feminine adjective and noun has the form folle. A. n.¹ I. A person lacking in intelligence or judgement, and related senses. 1. A person whose behaviour suggests a lack of intelligence, common sense, or good judgement; a silly person, an idiot; (now often) a person who acts unwisely or imprudently on a particular occasion (usually predicative and often with dependent clause, as in I was a fool to agree).A common word in all periods from Middle English onwards, but apparently especially from the 16th to the early 18th centuries; compare, e.g., the productivity in phrasal and compound use during this period (see Phrases, Compounds 1). The word seems to have always carried some level of depreciative sentiment beyond simple description, but this depreciative aspect becomes increasingly mild in modern use in comparison with other synonymous or closely related terms. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > stupid, foolish, or inadequate person > foolish person, fool > [noun] dizzyc825 cang?c1225 foolc1225 apec1330 mopc1330 saddle-goosec1346 mis-feelinga1382 foltc1390 mopec1390 fona1400 buffardc1430 fopc1440 joppec1440 fonda1450 fondlinga1450 insipienta1513 plume of feathers1530 bobolynec1540 dizzard1546 Little Witham?1548 nodc1563 dawkin1565 cocknel1566 nigion1570 niddicock1577 nodcock1577 cuckoo1581 Jack with the feather1581 niddipol1582 noddyship?1589 stirkc1590 fonkin1591 Gibraltar1593 fopper1598 noddypeak1598 coxcombry1600 simple1600 gowka1605 nup1607 fooliaminy1608 silly ass1608 dosser-head1612 dor1616 glow-worm1624 liripipea1625 doodle1629 sop1637 spalt1639 fool's head1650 buffle1655 Jack Adams1656 bufflehead1659 nincompoopc1668 bavian1678 nokes1679 foolanea1681 cod1699 hulver-head1699 nigmenog1699 single ten1699 mud1703 dowf1722 foolatum1740 silly billy1749 tommy noddy1774 arsec1785 nincom1800 silly1807 slob1810 omadhaun1818 potwalloper1820 mosy1824 amadan1825 gump1825 gype1825 oonchook1825 prawn1845 suck-egg1851 goosey1852 nowmun1854 pelican1856 poppy-show1860 buggerlugs1861 damfool1881 mudhead1882 yob1886 peanut head1891 haggis bag1892 poop1893 gazob1906 mush1906 wump1908 zob1911 gorm1912 goof1916 goofus1916 gubbins1916 dumb cluck1922 twat1922 B.F.1925 goofer1925 bird brain1926 berk1929 Berkeley1929 Berkeley Hunt1929 ding1929 loogan1929 stupido1929 poop-stick1930 nelly1931 droop1932 diddy1933 slappy1937 goof ball1938 get1940 poon1940 tonk1941 clot1942 yuck1943 possum1945 gobdaw1947 momo1953 nig-nog1953 plonker1955 weenie1956 nong-nong1959 Berkshire Hunt1960 balloon1965 doofus1965 dork1965 nana1965 shit-for-brains1966 schmoll1967 tosspot1967 lunchbox1969 doof1971 tonto1973 dorkus1979 motorhead1979 mouth-breather1979 wally1980 wally brain1981 der-brain1983 langer1983 numpty1985 sotong1988 fanny1995 fannybaws2000 c1225 Worcester Glosses to Old Eng. Homilies in Anglia (1928) 52 23 Gedwæsmen : fol. c1300 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Otho) (1963) l. 723 Cniþt þou art mochel fol [c1275 Calig. sot]. a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(1)) (1850) Ecclus. xxxiii. 5 The entrailes of a fool as the whel of a carre, and as a turnende ful axtre [a1425 L.V. extre] the thenkingus of hym. a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) I. vi. xvii. 317 Telle a fool his defautes and he schal hate þee. a1425 (a1400) Prick of Conscience (Galba & Harl.) (1863) l. 126 Elles es he a fole and noght wise. 1481 W. Caxton tr. Siege & Conqueste Jerusalem (1893) xxv. 57 There ben more fooles than wysemen. 1533 J. Gau in tr. C. Pedersen Richt Vay To Rdr. sig. Aii^v As sum fuyl or munk maid. 1569 T. Preston Lamentable Trag. Cambises sig. D iv b I think the vool be mad. 1612 T. Dekker If it be not Good Prol. Fooles by lucky Throwing, oft win the Game. 1677 W. Hughes Man of Sin iii. i. 5 Francis..admired for a glorious Saint, was in his life time commonly taken for a silly Fool. 1773 H. Chapone Lett. Improvem. Mind II. 111 Unless you improve your mind..you also will be an insignificant fool in old age. 1856 C. Reade It is never too Late I. xv. 255 If he hadn't been a fool and put his nose into my business. 1881 W. Besant & J. Rice Chaplain of Fleet I. vi. 144 No doubt, there have been fools before. 1941 P. Hamilton Hangover Square (1974) 78 He had been a fool to take her out. 1976 A. White Long Silence xviii. 158 None of you strikes me as the kind of fool who would accept a suicide mission. 2016 Sydney Morning Herald (Nexis) 8 Jan. (Sport section) 46 He'd been made to look like a fool on national television. 2. a. A jester or clown, esp. one retained in a royal court or noble household as a source of casual entertainment, traditionally dressed in a particoloured costume including a hood or cap adorned with bells and ass’s ears, and carrying a bauble.The fool could be either a person of low or impaired intelligence (cf. sense A. 4) treated as a source of humour or object of mockery, or an entertainer who had licence to speak freely and was indulged on account of being amusing or insightful (cf. fool sage n.). The latter figure incorporates elements of inversion or disruption of the social order, which derive from the licensed fool in the medieval Feast of Fools (see Feast of Fools n. 1b) and are preserved in character of the fool in other folk festivals (see sense A. 2b). The fool’s traditional costume is also apparently taken over from this context. The fool in Elizabethan, Jacobean, and Caroline drama is typically a household retainer but with emphasis placed on satirical comment and social disruption, e.g. Touchstone in As You Like It and Feste in Twelfth Night.For further information on the fool’s costume, see Compounds 4a, bauble n. 7a, fool's cap n.¹ 1a, fool's head n. 1, fool's hood n. 1, motley n. 3a. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > performance of jester or comedian > [noun] > jester or comedian jugglerc1175 foolc1300 jangler1303 fool sagec1330 ribald1340 ape-ward1362 japer1377 sage fool1377 harlotc1390 disporter?a1475 jocular?a1475 joculatora1500 jester?1518 idiot1526 scoffer1530 sporter1531 dizzardc1540 vice1552 antic1564 bauble-bearer1568 scoggin1579 buffoon1584 pleasant1595 zany1596 baladine1599 clown1600 fiddle1600 mimic1601 ape-carrier1615 mime1616 mime-man1631 merry man1648 tomfool1650 pickle-herring1656 badine1670 puddingc1675 merry-andrew1677 mimical1688 Tom Tram1688 Monaghan1689 pickled herring1711 ethologist1727 court-foola1797 Tom1817 mimer1819 fun-maker1835 funny man1839 mimester1846 comic1857 comedian1860 jokesman1882 comique1886 Joey1896 tummler1938 alternative comedian1981 Andrew- c1300 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Otho) (1978) l. 10133 Baldolf..lette seren his heued ase me doþ an fole. c1390 Roberd of Cisyle (Vernon) (1930) l. 155 Lych a fool, a fool to be. Wher is now þi dignite? a1413 (c1385) G. Chaucer Troilus & Criseyde (Pierpont Morgan) (1881) ii. l. 400 The kynges fool is woned to cryen lowde. a1438 Bk. Margery Kempe (1940) i. 62 They cuttyd hir gown so schort þat it come but lytil be-nethyn hir kn..for sche xuld ben holdyn a fool. a1500 (?a1425) Ipomedon (Harl.) (1889) l. 1643 He semyd a fole..Bothe by hede and by atyre. 1532 Privy Purse Exp. Hen. VIII 205 For making of gere for the kinges fole xxx s. 1609 T. Dekker Guls Horne-bk. sig. B2 He may be..his crafty Foole or his bawdy Iester. 1652 R. Brome Joviall Crew v. sig. O4 To beg the next Fool-Royal's place that falls. 1691 N. Luttrell Diary in Brief Hist. Relation State Affairs (1857) II. 311 Mr. Graham, the fool in King James time. 1706 D. Defoe Jure Divino Introd. p. ii The Strong unbounded Lust of Sovereign Rule, Makes him Conceit the Prince, forget the Fool. 1809 S. T. Coleridge Satyrane's Lett. ii in Friend 7 Dec. 251 The happiest illustrations of general truths..from the Fools and Clowns of Shakespeare. 1847 L. Hunt Jar of Honey (1848) vi. 75 He had all the humiliations..of the cap and bells, and was the dullest fool ever heard of. 1999 New Straits Times (Malaysia) (Nexis) 24 Feb. (Literary section) 7 One could speak, like Lear's fool,..by seeming to speak in jest. b. A stock character in a mummers' play (mummers' play n.), morris dance, and other performance associated with English folk festival, characterized as a jester or buffoon. Also: a person (originally a man) wearing an elaborate costume and mask who participates in a mummers' parade, a traditional Christmas and New Year celebration in Newfoundland. Cf. tomfool n. 2. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > social event > festive occasion > persons and characters > [noun] > participant in Christmas or Tweltfh Night wassailer1706 junkanoo1774 fool?1835 society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > drama > part or character > [noun] > types of part or character underpart1679 persona muta1714 travesty1732 soubrette1753 old man1762 small part?1774 breeches-part1779 character part1811 fat1812 chambermaida1828 fool?1835 raisonneur1845 ingénue1848 villain of the piece1854 stock character1864 feeder1866 satirette1870 character role1871 travesty1887 thinking part1890 walk-on1902 cardboard cutout1906 bit1926 good guy1928 feed1929 bad guy1932 goody1934 walkthrough1935 narrator1941 cameo1950 black hat1959 ?1835 Peace Egg i. 5 Fool.—What diseases can you cure? Doctor.—All sorts. Fool.—What's all sorts? Doctor.—The itch, the pitch, the palsy, & the gout. 1842 R. H. Bonnycastle Newfoundland II. xii. 139 Some of the masks are very grotesque, and the fools or clowns are furnished with thongs and bladders, with which they belabour the exterior mob. 1903 J. C. Cox Strutt's Sports & Pastimes (new ed.) iv. iii. 274 The characters are..namely, St George, Fool, Slasher, Doctor, Prince of Paradine, King of Egypt, Hector, Beelzebub, and Devil-Doubt. 1918 H. H. Child in A. W. Ward & A. R. Waller Cambr. Hist. Eng. Lit. V. ii. 33 The characters are the traditional grotesques of village festivals—the fool and the Hobby-horse. 1955 Daily News (St. John's, Newfoundland) 23 Dec. 11/3 The Fools..were one of the great Christmas institutions in the city, as persistently perennial as the season itself. 2016 CNN.com (Nexis) 10 Dec. One man, covered in ribbons, plays the part of the ‘ribbon fool,’ a prankster in traditional mummering. 3. A person who is made to appear ridiculous by, or is in the control of, another; spec. a person who is tricked or duped; a gullible person. Now chiefly as retained in set expressions, e.g. to make a fool of (see Phrases 3b(a)), to be nobody’s fool (see nobody pron. and n. Compounds).to put the fool on: see put v. Phrases 4a. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > cheating, fraud > duping, making a fool of > [noun] > gullible person, dupe foola1382 woodcockc1430 geckc1530 cousinc1555 cokes1567 milch cow1582 gudgeon1584 coney1591 martin1591 gull1594 plover1599 rook1600 gull-finch1604 cheatee1615 goata1616 whirligig1624 chouse1649 coll1657 cully1664 bubble1668 lamb1668 Simple Simon?1673 mouth1680 dupe1681 cull1698 bub1699 game1699 muggins1705 colour1707 milk cow1727 flat1762 gulpin1802 slob1810 gaggee1819 sucker1838 hoaxee1840 softie1850 foozle1860 lemon1863 juggins1882 yob1886 patsy1889 yapc1894 fall guy1895 fruit1895 meemaw1895 easy mark1896 lobster1896 mark1896 wise guy1896 come-on1897 pushover1907 John1908 schnookle1908 Gretchen1913 jug1914 schnook1920 soft touch1924 prospect1931 steamer1932 punter1934 dill1941 Joe Soap1943 possum1945 Moreton Bay1953 easy touch1959 a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(1)) (1850) Isa. xix. 13 Fooles [L. stulti] ben mad the princes of Thaneos; gretli languyssheden the princes of Memfeos. c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Reeve's Tale (Hengwrt) (1870) l. 4111 Oure corn is stole, men wil vs foolis calle. c1450 Jacob's Well (1900) 81 A nunne þat..made here as a fool, & obeyid here to alle here sustren as here fool. 1578 J. Lyly Euphues f. 29 Bicause I was content to be his friende, thought he mee meete to be made his foole? 1599 W. Shakespeare Romeo & Juliet iii. i. 136 I am fortunes foole . View more context for this quotation 1721 C. Cibber Refusal i. 3 I was her Fool for above five Months together. 1850 Ld. Tennyson In Memoriam iv. 4 Thou shall not be the fool of loss. View more context for this quotation a1935 W. Holtby South Riding (1936) iv. 249 He was her fool, but he was still her lover. 2005 Globe & Mail (Toronto) (Nexis) 18 Jan. r1 Harry, it sometimes seems, is fortune's fool. 4. A person whose mental faculties are limited or impaired; esp. (frequently with modifying word or phrase) a person having a limited capacity to learn, understand, reason, etc.; a person born with an intellectual disability. Now chiefly in born fool, often in weakened use, applied in depreciative exaggeration to a foolish or silly person (cf. sense A. 1). See also natural fool n.Now likely to be offensive. ΘΚΠ the world > health and disease > mental health > mental illness > mental deficiency > [noun] > person congeonc1285 idiota1400 foola1425 natural foolc1450 natural idiot1497 natural1533 changeling1577 weakling1577 mooncalf1586 slimslack1600 aufe1621 oaf1638 weak-wit1656 underwit1682 imbecile1830 ament1871 unfortunate1881 balmy1903 subnormal1905 deficient1906 retard1909 retardate1912 retarded1912 mopoke1946 retardee1956 mong1980 a1425 (c1385) G. Chaucer Troilus & Criseyde (Corpus Cambr. 61) (1894) ii. l. 370 Euery wight but he be fool [a1413 Pierpont Morgan fel] of kynde, wol deme it loue of frendshipe. a1425 (c1395) Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) (Royal) (1850) Ecclus. xxv. 4 My soule hatide thre spicis..a pore man proud, and a riche man liere, and an eld man a fool and vnwitti [E.V. a1382 Douce 369(1) an old man fool and dotid; L. senem fatuum et insensatum]. 1589 J. Lyly Pappe with Hatchet To Father & Sons Ile make such a splinter runne into your wits, as shal make them ranckle till you become fooles. a1616 W. Shakespeare All's Well that ends Well (1623) iv. iii. 192 He was whipt for getting the Shrieues fool with childe, a dumbe innocent that could not say him nay. View more context for this quotation a1640 W. Fenner Pract. Divinitie (1647) 44 One that hath been a wise man, knows how to hold his peace, but a born foole is invincible. 1670 S. Wilson Lassels's Voy. Italy (new ed.) ii. 212 The Pazzorella, where they keep madmen and fooles. 1741 S. Richardson Pamela III. xxxiii. 311 Hadst thou been a born Fool, or a raw Greenhead, or a doating Greyhead. 1824 R. Crabb Tales 142 He became well in his health; but he remained quite a fool for the rest of his life! 1891 J. C. Atkinson Last of Giant-killers 52 Some folks said that he was a born fool, and that he said so few words because he..stammered so awfully. 1920 E. Cook Press in War-time vii. 92 Only a born fool or a traitor would think of publishing such a statement as ‘Sir Douglas Haig has disposed such and such a number of troops, including such and such regiments in such and such a position.’ 2018 @olusola_vic 24 Mar. in twitter.com (accessed 20 June 2018) You're a born fool and a sycophant. †5. Used as a term of endearment or pity, typically with the implication of innocence or artlessness. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the mind > emotion > love > terms of endearment > [noun] darlingc888 belamy?c1225 culver?c1225 dearc1230 sweetheartc1290 heartc1300 sweetc1330 honeya1375 dovec1386 jewelc1400 birdc1405 cinnamonc1405 honeycombc1405 lovec1405 wantonc1450 mulling?a1475 daisyc1485 crowdy-mowdy?a1513 honeysop?a1513 powsowdie?a1513 suckler?a1513 foolc1525 buttinga1529 whitinga1529 beautiful1534 turtle-dove1535 soula1538 heartikin1540 bully?1548 turtle1548 lamba1556 nyletc1557 sweet-lovea1560 coz1563 ding-ding1564 pugs1566 golpol1568 sparling1570 lover1573 pug1580 bulkin1582 mopsy1582 chuck1589 bonny1594 chick1594 sweetikin1596 ladybird1597 angel1598 muss1598 pinkany1599 sweetkin1599 duck1600 joy1600 sparrowc1600 sucket1605 nutting1606 chuckaby1607 tickling1607 bagpudding1608 heartling1608 chucking1609 dainty1611 flittermouse1612 honeysuckle1613 fubs1614 bawcocka1616 pretty1616 old thinga1625 bun1627 duckling1630 bulchin1633 bulch?c1640 sweetling1648 friscoa1652 ding-dongs1662 buntinga1668 cocky1680 dearie1681 chucky1683 lovey1684 machree1689 nykin1693 pinkaninny1696 nug1699 hinny1724 puss1753 pet1767 dovey1769 sweetie1778 lovey-dovey1781 lovely1791 ducky1819 toy1822 acushla1825 alanna1825 treat1825 amigo1830 honey child1832 macushla1834 cabbage1840 honey-bunch1874 angel pie1878 m'dear1887 bach1889 honey baby1895 prawn1895 hon1896 so-and-so1897 cariad1899 pumpkin1900 honey-bun1902 pussums1912 snookums1919 treasure1920 wogger1922 amico1929 sugar1930 baby cake1949 angel cake1951 lamb-chop1962 petal1974 bae2006 the mind > emotion > compassion > quality of exciting pity > [noun] > pitiable person wretcha1500 foolc1525 elf1573 poor hearta1600 pilgarlic1694 perisher1896 c1525 J. Rastell New Commodye Propertes of Women sig. A.vi^v How sey ye now by this lytyll yong fole. a1586 Sir P. Sidney Astrophel & Stella (1591) 31 O heauenly Foole, thy most kisse worthy face Anger invests with such a louely grace. a1616 W. Shakespeare Winter's Tale (1623) ii. i. 120 Doe not weepe (good Fooles) There is no cause. View more context for this quotation 1699 T. Dorrington Observ. Present State Relig. 157 They set him before Mary;..making bare her Virgin Breasts, she gave him suck (poor Fool). 1737 J. Breval Rape of Helen 39 Glycera, is your Name? pretty dear Fool! 6. Frequently with capital initials. A card in the tarot pack, bearing a representation of a beggar, vagabond, or jester. In occult tarot, the fool is one of the 22 major arcana. In tarot games, it counts as the highest trump, or as a card that excuses a player from following suit or playing trump. ΚΠ 1816 S. W. Singer Researches Hist. Playing Cards 239 If a king is played, and you have not the queen to form a sequence, you play the fool, and this is called an excuse. 1918 L. W. de Laurence Illustr. Key to Tarot ii. i. 39 The zero card of the Fool is allocated, as it always is, to the place which makes it equivalent to the number twenty-one. 2019 M. Atwood Tarot 31/1 The Fool (number 0 in the cards) represents a person starting on the journey of life—full of hope, promise, and naiveté. 7. a. With about, for, over. A person who has a great fondness or weakness for someone or something; esp. one who is infatuated or besotted with another person. ΚΠ 1885 A. E. Courtenay Than Many Sparrows xix. 217 He's a regular fool over the girl. 1955 K. Amis Lett. (2000) 448 John is a fool about the 2nd Marianne. I know her slightly and she's quite nice, big tits, friendly piggy face, easy lay. 1993 C. Shields Stone Diaries ii. 49 City folks were fools for fresh flowers. 2016 J. Zafra Stories so Far 37 At some point everyone is a fool for love, everyone is bound to a fantasy. b. U.S. A person who is devoted or dedicated to a particular activity; (sometimes by extension) one who is highly skilled or successful in the activity. Chiefly with present participle. ΚΠ 1887 Z. Cocke in Overland Monthly July 66/1 That air that fiddlin' fool, Pete Dobine. 1950 Cumberland (Maryland) News 5 Oct. 7/1 The daring young lady diplomat.., Anna Branger, who broke a new international altitude record for light planes last spring, is training to smash another record... She can fly like a fool. 2003 V. O. Carter Such Sweet Thunder 294 ‘Don't you remember, Allie, when I got them ballet shoes an' started dancin' like them white gals do in the movies?’ ‘Who you tellin? You was a dancin' fool!’ †II. An immoral or sinful person. 8. An immoral or sinful person; an evildoer, a sinner; a rogue, a scoundrel; spec. an unchaste or licentious person. Obsolete.Apparently arising from the use of stultus in certain passages in the Vulgate, esp. Psalms 14:1 (13:1 in the Vulgate) and Proverbs 1, to refer to the folly of people who reject the right moral path. Fool is used in many English translations of these passages down to the 21st cent. and is sometimes interpreted in this sense (cf. quots. 1612 and 1755), although the New Eng. Bible (1970) translates the Hebrew with the stupid or stupid men. Latin stultus translates various Hebrew words, e.g. nāḇāl fool (Psalm 14:1) or 'ēwīl foolish (Proverbs 1:7). ΚΠ a1325 (c1280) Southern Passion (Pepys 2344) (1927) l. 438 Whanne þe beste men..shulleþ hare þouȝt wende What shulleþ suche ffoles as we beoþ do? c1400 (?c1380) Cleanness (1977) l. 202 Fylþe of þe flesch þat foles han vsed. a1425 Rule St. Benet (Lansd.) (1902) 21 (MED) Yef sho be a fole & ful of iuil. c1475 (a1449) J. Lydgate Order of Fools (Laud) in Minor Poems (1934) ii. 449 (MED) Cheef of alle folys..Is he that nouther loveth God nor dredith. a1500 (c1340) R. Rolle Psalter (Univ. Oxf. 64) (1884) ix. §21. 35 (MED) Thai ware foles, noght seruaunt till crist bot till antecrist. 1612 T. Wilson Christian Dict. 168 Foole, a sinner and wicked man, who dispising the wisedome of the word, followes his owne luste... In this sence, the word is vsed throughout the Prouerbs of Salomon: also Psalme. 14, 1. 1755 S. Johnson Dict. Eng. Lang. Fool, [In Scripture.] A wicked man.] B. adj. †1. a. Wicked, sinful; despicable. Obsolete. ΚΠ c1225 (?c1200) Sawles Warde (Bodl.) (1938) 4 Nis hare nan þe ne feareð ofte untoheliche & gulteð ilome, oðer ifol semblant oder in vuel dede. ?c1225 Ancrene Riwle (Cleo.: Scribe B) (1972) 305 [Scribe A Of mon þet ȝe misleueð] þurh his fol semblant oðer bi his wake wordes. c1275 in C. Brown Eng. Lyrics 13th Cent. (1932) 51 Þu wrecche fole bali, nu þu list on bere. c1390 Evangelie (Vernon) l. 24 in C. Horstmann Minor Poems Vernon MS (1892) 1 (MED) He þat eggeþmon to quede..me wolde lede To wikked wille or fool dede. a1450 Quixley's Ballades in Yorks. Archæol. Jrnl. (1909) 20 45 (MED) Þe wyfe of kyng of grece Menelay, Whiche was þe fool synnere ouer mesure, Helayne. 1532 Romaunt Rose in Wks. G. Chaucer f. clxviii/1 Your wicked thought..That meueth your foole eloquence. b. Lustful, lascivious; sexually promiscuous, licentious. Obsolete. ΚΠ ?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 45 Þe haligast lette writen on boke for to warni wimmen of hare fol echnen. c1300 St. Nicholas (Laud) l. 28 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 241 Heore red huy nomen alle þreo fole wommen to bi-come And raþer þanne heo in swuche houngur weren to libbe bi heoredom [emended in ed. to horedom]. c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Parson's Tale (Ellesmere) (1877) §853 The fool lookynge of the fool womman and of the fool man. a1450 MS Bodl. 779 in Archiv f. das Studium der Neueren Sprachen (1889) 82 386 (MED) A bed me gan him make..& dede wit him fool women, to habben of hem þe syȝte..þus fram fool wille him-self he chastid þere. 2. Foolish, silly, stupid. In early use often: spec. showing a lack of judgement; rash, imprudent, unwise. Now colloquial or regional (esp. U.S.).Not in formal or standard use after 16th cent. Subsequently, in colloquial or regional use throughout the British Isles, esp. in Scotland, and North America. Later also attested in other regions, such as the Caribbean and South Asia.Attributive use may sometimes be difficult to distinguish from use of the noun as a modifier (see, e.g., Compounds 2). ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > foolishness, folly > [adjective] dizzyc825 unwisec825 redelessOE unwittyc1000 daftlikec1175 witlessc1175 canga1225 adoted?c1225 cangun?c1225 egedec1225 cangeda1250 foola1250 snepea1250 aerwittec1275 sotlyc1275 unslyc1275 unwitterc1275 unwilya1300 nicec1300 goosishc1374 unskilfulc1374 follyc1380 lewdc1380 mis-feelinga1382 dottlec1390 foltedc1390 peevishc1400 fona1425 fonnishc1425 foliousa1450 foolisha1450 daft?c1450 doitedc1450 dotyc1450 daffish1470 insapientc1470 gucked?a1500 wanwittya1500 furious1526 insipient1528 seelya1529 dawish?1529 foolage1545 momish1546 base-wittedc1547 stultitiousa1549 follifulc1550 senseless1565 mopish1568 fondish1579 unsensiblea1586 fondly1587 dizzardly1594 follial1596 featlessc1598 fopperly1599 gowkeda1605 inept1604 simple1604 anserine1607 foppish1608 silly ass1608 unsage1608 wisdomless1608 fool-beggeda1616 Gotham1621 noddy1645 badot1653 dosser-headed1655 infrunite1657 nonsensicalc1661 slight1663 sappy1670 datelessa1686 noddy-peaked1694 nizy1709 dottled1772 gypit1804 shay-brained1806 folly-stricken1807 fool-like1811 goosy1811 spoony1813 niddle-noddle1821 gumptionless1823 daftish1825 anserous1826 as crazy as a loon1830 spoonish1833 cheese-headed1836 dotty1860 fool-fool1868 noodly1870 dilly1873 gormless1883 daffy1884 monkey-doodle1886 mosy1887 jay1891 pithecanthropic1897 peanut-headed1906 dinlo1907 boob1911 goofy1921 ding-a-ling1935 jerky1944 jerk1947 jerkish1948 pointy-headed1950 doofus1967 twitty1967 twittish1969 nerkish1975 numpty1992 a1250 Ureisun ure Louerde (Nero) in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 200 Me nis he fol chepmon, ðet buð deore awoc þing. c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) l. 11976 Þis lokinge was riȝt fol in such destresse iwis. c1330 (?c1300) Guy of Warwick (Auch.) l. 380 Ich wene þou art a fole musard! c1429 Mirour Mans Saluacioune (1986) l. 273 The wise virgines þat oele vnto the fole maydens denyed. 1481 tr. Cicero De Senectute (Caxton) sig. b5 Also is olde age greuous..to the fole olde man. ?1541 R. Copland Galen's Fourth Bk. Terapeutyke sig. Dj, in Guy de Chauliac's Questyonary Cyrurgyens O foole and imprudent Thessalus. 1590 R. Harvey Plaine Percevall sig. D3^v Let the wisest be the forwardest, and the most foole the frowardest. 1621 B. Robertson tr. Erasmus Adagia in Latine & Eng. 2 Penny wise, pound foole. 1681 S. Colvil Mock Poem (1751) 130 Fighting is a fool thing. 1728 P. Walker Six Saints (1901) II. 18 [They] would make no use of ale nor tobacco, and other fool things. 1805 L. Dow Jrnl. (1806) II. i. 76 I showed the contrast of a gentleman and a fool deist. 1842 Congr. Globe 25 Jan. App. 153 All the fool Federal fandangoes that disgraced the country. 1862 S. Hale Let. 28 Aug. (1919) 13 Everybody talking such fool nonsense as sometimes almost to prevent digestion. 1902 W. N. Harben Abner Daniel 2 Oh, Alan, don't you see he's goin' to ruin us with his fool notions? 1932 E. Wilson Devil take Hindmost ix. 104 The local banks have failed through the speculations of some fool gambler. 1966 D. J. Crowley I could talk Old-story Good 25 Man, you too fool! 2009 Chicago Daily Herald (Nexis) 2 Nov. (Neighbor section) 1 What fun, two seniors jumping and kicking like teenagers and laughing our fool heads off. Phrases P1. In proverbs and proverbial expressions. a. (a) With reference to hasty or rash speech or action. In early use chiefly in a fool's bolt is soon shot; now usually in fool's rush in where angels fear to tread (see rush v.² Phrases 1) or (in shortened form) fools rush in. ΚΠ a1325 (c1250) Prov. Hendyng (Cambr.) xii, in Anglia (1881) 4 184 Fole is bolt is sone iscoutin. a1425 (?a1400) G. Chaucer Romaunt Rose (Hunterian) (1891) l. 5266 A fooles belle is soone runge. 1545 R. Taverner tr. Erasmus Prouerbes (new ed.) f. iiii A foles bolt is soone shotte. 1574 A. Golding tr. J. Calvin Serm. on Job (new ed.) xlvi. 238/1 Men say, A fooles bolt is soone shot: and are not we double fooles when wee iudge without anye knowledge or discretion? 1663 Hudibras: Second Pt. 73 Sudden as Thunder (that soures Beer) As lowd too; he bids Wretches hear, For now his anger is grown hot, And a Fools bolt is soonest shot. 1711 A. Pope Ess. Crit. 36 For Fools rush in where Angels fear to tread. 1797 J. Ritson Let. 24 Aug. (1833) II. 159 Now will you have my conjecture? for a fools bolt, they say, is soon shot. 1841 W. J. O’N. Daunt Old Earl & His Young Wife xiv. 180 They might fancy there was some danger from your tongue—they say a fool's bolt is soon shot. 1859 T. C. Grattan Civilized Amer. (ed. 2) II. xiii. 369 Beings who, while ‘fools rush in’ and self-made judges irreverently pronounce ex cathedrá sentence on the inscrutable acts of Heaven, stand patiently by. 1961 H. Peretti et al. Can’t help falling in Love with You (song, perf. Elvis Presley) Wise men say only fools rush in But I can't help falling in love with you. 2020 @erotician67 26 May in twitter.com (accessed 3 July 2020) Fools rush in and sometimes end up hurting other people but also yourself. (b) In expressions contrasting fools with wise men, e.g. a fool may give a wise man counsel, fools ask question wise men cannot answer, etc. ΚΠ a1413 (c1385) G. Chaucer Troilus & Criseyde (Pierpont Morgan) (1881) i. l. 630 A fool may ek ofte a wys man gide. a1533 Ld. Berners tr. A. de Guevara Golden Bk. M. Aurelius (1537) f. 24 Many tymes of wyse yonge men cometh olde foles, And of yonge fooles customably cometh wise olde men. 1625 F. Bacon Apophthegmes §167. 186 Cato Maior would say; That wise men learned more by Fooles, then Fooles by wise men. 1660 R. L'Estrange Apol. with Short View 88 I shall..make the old saying good, that One Fool may ask more Questions, than Twenty Wise men can Answer. 1738 J. Swift Treat. Polite Conversat. ii. 69 They say, a Fool will ask more Questions, than twenty wise Men can answer. 1818 W. Scott Heart of Mid-Lothian (1822) xix. 344 If a fule may gie a wise man counsel, I wad hae him think twice. 1997 M. Walters Echo iv. 60 ‘I reckon I learnt a thing or two off of him.’ ‘Like what?’ Terry grinned. ‘Like, fools ask questions that wise men cannot answer.’ (c) there's no fool like an old fool and variants: the foolish behaviour of an older person seems especially foolish as older people are expected to think and act more sensibly than younger ones. ΚΠ 1546 J. Heywood Dialogue Prouerbes Eng. Tongue ii. ii. sig. Fiv^v There is no foole to the olde foole. 1621 T. W. in tr. S. Goulart Wise Vieillard To Rdr. sig. A iv The wise Old Man..seemes to glance at our English Proverb: No foole to the old foole. 1818 S. E. Ferrier Marriage II. xiv. 183 ‘But there's no fool like an old fool,’ quoth Nicky. 1904 R. Barr Lady Electra 259 They say there is no fool like an old fool, and that is true. 2003 S. Brooke 2cool/2btrue xxi. 192 I suppose there's no fool like an old fool and it sounded kind of young and funky and cool so I put in a few hundred thou. But now of course, I'll never see a Bleep penny of that, will I? (d) a fool and his money are soon parted: see money n. Phrases 3d. as the fool thinks, so the bell tinks: see tink v.² Phrases. b. In miscellaneous expressions. ΚΠ 1340 Ayenbite (1866) 205 Huo þet loueþ uelaȝrede of fol: hit behoueþ þet he by fol. c1475 Proverbs (Rawl. D.328) in Mod. Philol. (1940) 38 118 Pulcrum promissum stultum facit esse gavisum. A fere be-heyste makyt a fole gladde. 1563 B. Googe Eglogs Epytaphes & Sonettes sig. E.v But Fortune fauours Fooles as old men saye. 1606 P. Holland in tr. Suetonius Hist. Twelve Caesars Annot. 16 A foole or a physition. 1670 J. Ray Coll. Eng. Prov. 91 Fools build houses, and wise men buy them. 1721 J. Kelly Compl. Coll. Scotish Prov. 101 Every Man at thirty is a Fool or a Physician. 1725 E. Young Universal Passion: Satire II 16 A fool at forty is a fool indeed. 1834 D. Crockett Narr. Life 170 A fool for luck, and a poor man for children. a1910 W. F. Butler Autobiogr. (1911) xix. 348 Fools build houses for other men to live in. 2018 Denver Post 2 Apr. 1 a A man who is his own lawyer has a fool for a client. P2. In phrases in which fool is part of a predicate with to be. a. to be no fool: to be shrewd or prudent; esp. to be too sensible to be easily deceived or tricked. See also nobody's fool n. at nobody pron. and n. Compounds. ΚΠ a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) vi. l. 446 He was no fol that ferst so radde. 1577 N. Breton Floorish vpon Fancie sig. R.i The Butcher too againe, hee is no foole I trowe. Hee findes deuise to make a gaine, howe euer Cattell goe. 1682 S. Pordage Medal Revers'd 107 I know you'l grant the Devil is no Fool, He can disguise in Surplice, Cloak, or Cool. 1711 R. Steele Spectator No. 118. ⁋3 For all she looks so innocent as it were, take my Word for it she is no Fool. 1842 F. Marryat Percival Keene (1877) xv. 10/1 Bob Cross is no fool, and can see as far through a fog as most chaps. 1915 A. Conan Doyle Valley of Fear i. ii. 32 ‘Your friend seems to be no fool,’ remarked Holmes. ‘No sir; White Mason is a very live man, if I am any judge.’ 2000 T. Clancy Bear & Dragon xxx. 461 The import of his earlier statements had been straightforward enough, and Shen was no fool. b. to be a fool to: to be inferior to in every way; to be nothing when compared to. Now rare. ΚΠ 1615 F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Cupids Revenge iii. sig. G4 The Diuell is but a Foole to a right woman. a1616 W. Shakespeare Taming of Shrew (1623) iii. iii. 30 Tut, she's a Lambe, a Doue, a foole to him. View more context for this quotation 1700 E. Ward Step to Bath 12 The Road was so Damnable heavy, that..the Corporation Trot to St. Pauls on Sunday, was a Fool to it. 1791 ‘G. Gambado’ Ann. Horsemanship xvii. 76 Childers would have been a fool to him. 1885 H. R. Haggard King Solomon's Mines 79 The Black Hole of Calcutta must have been a fool to it. 1957 R. Graves They hanged my Saintly Billy iii. 22 Bless you, Sir, compared with Rugeley, Nottinghamshire's a fool to it. 1985 P. Beale & E. Partridge Dict. Catch Phrases (ed. 2) 34/2 Blackpool's a fool to it, ‘spoken of any bright lights or any garish sight’ (Mr Jack Eva, 1978); since the 1920s. c. to be a fool to one's self: to do something to one's own detriment or disadvantage. ΚΠ 1653 T. Horton Wisdome's Judgm. Folly 23 He that will be wise to God, must be thus far a fool to Himself. 1825 Morning Post 24 Oct. I found myself in such a state of illness, that I should have been a fool to myself..had I fought in that condition. 1919 Manch. Guardian 4 Aug. 10/2 The men were fools to themselves to remain on strike. 2003 S. Mackay Heligoland (2004) x. 148 Gus is a fool to himself, giving away his stock like that. He's his own worst enemy. d. to be a fool for one's pains: to go to great trouble over something without receiving any commensurate reward; to waste one’s time. Now rare. ΚΠ 1723 B. Mandeville Fable Bees (ed. 2) i. 349 If he keeps but one [horse], and over feeds it to shew his Wealth he is a Fool for his Pains. 1807 J. Beresford Miseries Human Life II. xvi. 77 I will give you—though I'm a fool for my pains—however, I will give you one squeak more for your inheritance. 1936 E. Everett-Green in Cromwell Argus (Otago, N.Z.) 6 Apr. 2/4 Perhaps I am an old fool for my pains. P3. In phrases in which fool is the object of specific verbs. a. to play the fool: (originally) to behave in a manner typical of a fool (see sense A. 2a) or jester; to act or speak in a mocking way; to jest; (more generally) to act or behave foolishly; (now usually) to behave in a playful or silly way; to fool around. In later use also to act the fool.In the 16th and 17th centuries when the subject is plural, typically with fool also in the plural. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > drama > acting > act [verb (intransitive)] > types of part to play the foolc1426 to walk on1863 supe1888 super1895 miscast1927 the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > foolishness, folly > be or become foolish [verb (intransitive)] > act foolishly dotec1225 foleyec1374 fop1528 fond1530 daff1535 pract1568 dolt1573 daw1596 fool1597 guck1603 baboonize1611 prat1685 to play the fool1722 niff-naff1728 fopple1756 doitera1790 daffle1796 tomfool1825 to play (also act) the (giddy) goat1841 lallygag1862 silly1877 monkey1878 footle1891 to ass around1899 to play silly buggers (also beggars, bleeders, etc.)1903 to arse around1919 to jackass around1927 nimble-pimble1927 to fuck about1929 to fool up1933 to crap around1936 pantomime1958 prat1961 dork1990 c1426 J. Audelay Poems (1931) 27 (MED) Þai play not þe fole; Contenualy þai gon to scole. c1475 Mankind (1969) l. 275 I haue..pleyde so longe þe foll þat I am ewyn wery. 1537 W. Turner tr. Urbanus Regius Compar. Olde Learnynge & Newe sig. cvi They tryfle bothe vnlearnedly and vngodly, yet they be not afrayed to dryue to the fyre as many as wyll not play the fooles with them. a1600 (a1578) W. Roper Lyfe Sir T. Moore (Harl. 6254) (1935) 82 I mervaile that you, that have bine alwaies hitherto taken for so wise a man, will nowe so play the foole. 1660 S. Pepys Diary 26 Feb. (1970) I. 69 I stayed up a little while, playing the fool with the lass of the house. 1676 J. Mason Mentis Humanæ Metamorphosis 16 For Manly Reason in his Sober School Permits no Scholar there to act the Fool. 1722 D. Defoe Relig. Courtship i. i. 28 I advise you not to play the Fool with me any longer. 1740 Ld. Chesterfield Lett. (1932) (modernized text) II. 431 Dressing him out like a jackanapes, and giving him money to play the fool with. 1838 Token & Atlantic Souvenir 100 I feel cross as a bear after playing the fool all day. 1847 G. P. R. James John Marston Hall viii The parliament was playing the fool in Paris. 1933 ‘E. Cambridge’ Hostages to Fortune (2003) 283 When they were far out in the fields, they would take off their hats and link arms, and sing, and chase each other down the steep pastures, and generally play the fool. 1991 E. Currie Dope & Trouble iii. ii. 197 I mean he drinks and everything, badly. And he acts the fool when he's drunk. 2013 M. Booth Sacred Hist. (2017) xxix. 244 Francis was a lighthearted boy, full of happiness, always playing the fool. b. (a) to make a fool of: to make (someone) appear foolish, esp. to deceive or ridicule (someone). ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > cheating, fraud > duping, making a fool of > befool, dupe [phrase] to put an ape in a person's hoodc1330 to glaze one's houvec1369 to cough (a person) a daw, fool, momea1529 to make a fool of1534 to give (any one) the bobc1540 to lead (a person) a dancea1545 to make (someone) an ass1548 to make (a person) an ox1566 to play bob-fool witha1592 to sell any one a bargain1598 to put the fool on1649 to make a monkey (out) of1767 to play (a person) for a sucker (also fool, etc.)1869 to string (someone) along1902 to swing it on or across1923 1534 T. Swinnerton in tr. Mustre of Scismatyke Bysshopes sig. A.viii^v Bonyface perceyuyng that Celestyne was a very goddes creature, and easy to make a foole of, thought surely to shewe hym a poynte of sophestry. 1610 A. Cooke Pope Ioane 23 The Deane made a foole of the Alderman. 1715 D. Defoe Family Instructor I. i. iv. 97 I won't be made a Fool of. 1833 S. T. Coleridge Table-talk 16 Aug. He could not make a fool of me, as he did of Godwin and some other of his butts. 1874 J. Parker Paraclete i. i. 3 The skilled conjuror will make a fool of any man who insists that seeing is believing. 1926 J. Devanny Butcher Shop xviii. 222 He exploded profanely, telling her in effect that she was making a fool of herself. 2015 V. Khan Unexpected Inheritance Inspector Chopra 210 Nayak had made a fool of him. (b) to make a fool of oneself: to make oneself appear foolish, esp. to behave in a way which suggests incompetence or a lack of judgement or self-control. ΚΠ 1590 H. Smith Benefit of Contentation sig. AA Thus the couetous man makes a foole of himselfe. 1654 Mercurius Politicus No. 215 3639 The contriver of that wonderfull ship, having made a foole of himself and the Country, is now no more to be heard of. 1761 L. Sterne Life Tristram Shandy III. ii. 11 My father had been resolved to make a fool of himself by holding the wig stiff in his left hand. 1865 Harper's Mag. Oct. 674/2 If the Supreme Court was a mind to make a fool of itself, that was no reason that his court should. 1915 P. G. Wodehouse Something Fresh xi. 315 ‘I do wish that this time you would endeavour..not to make a fool of yourself.’.. ‘I'll have a jolly good stab at it, governor.’ 2004 County Wedding Mag. 54/2 They weren't going to miss out because of my irrational fear of making a fool of myself in public. c. to put the fool on: see put v. Phrases 4a. to suffer fools gladly: see to suffer fools gladly at suffer v. Additions. P4. (the) more fool you: used to indicate a belief that a person’s actions or plans are foolish or demonstrate a lack of judgement; ‘what a fool you are’, ‘how foolish you are’. Similarly (the) more fool him (her, etc.).Not in North American use.Fool can be interpreted as noun or adjective: see note at more adj. 1h for discussion of the grammar of the phrase. ΚΠ 1607 T. Middleton Phoenix sig. B2 Lady.For loue to you, did I neglect my state... Captaine. The more foole you, could you like none but me? 1769 I. Bickerstaff Ephesian Matron ii. 5 Matron. No, no, I death prefer. Maid. The more fool you. 1852 H. B. Stowe Uncle Tom's Cabin II. xxxviii. 243 ‘The more fool you!’ said Legree, spitting scornfully at him. 1867 Good Words 8 422/1 ‘More fool you,’ remarked his father, without looking up from the backgammon board. 1878 London Jrnl. 16 Feb. 103/1 I worked for the young lady that was half engaged to him, but she jilted him—more fool her. 1986 D. Potter Singing Detective v. 201 Theatre, you know. But obviously moving into films, or trying to. More fool him. 2002 Pride May 45/2 Any self-respecting female should be wise enough to steer well clear of Romeo rats and, if you don't, then more fool you. P5. In noun phrases with of. Feast of Fools: see Feast of Fools n. Pope of Fools: see pope n.¹ 5b. ship of fools: see ship n.¹ Phrases 3. Compounds C1. Compound use is particularly characteristic of the period between the late 16th and early 18th centuries (cf. note at sense A. 1). a. As a general modifier with the sense ‘of, relating to, or characteristic of fools’.Now not usually distinguishable from the adjective (see sense B. 2). ΚΠ 1670 R. Baxter Life of Faith (new ed.) 569 The Tavern, or Gaming-house, or Play-house, or the merry fool-house, as Solomon accounteth it. 1672 T. Alleine Life & Death Mr. J. Alleine 23 Make them throw away their worldly Fool-games, and come and see what it is that these Joyous Souls have found. 1760 J. Jortin Life Erasmus II. 170 None are greater Fools than they, who set up for Fool-Doctors in the Grand Hospital of Incurables. 1883 W. Rein Life Luther xxii. 178 Hoods and tonsure, eating and drinking, and similar fool-work. 2014 @ComedyCentralIn 20 Jan. in twitter.com (accessed 17 July 2020) Temperature rising in fool city :D. b. With other nouns, with the sense ‘that is both a fool and a ——’, as in fool-gallant., fool-god. ΚΠ 1596 H. Clapham Briefe of Bible 55 And shall wee admit foolish Boyes, or Foole-Elders into the Church. 1621 J. Taylor Superbiæ Flagellum sig. B5 This foole-god daigned there to be a guest, Who by himselfe was at a table plac'd. 1714 A. Pope Chaucer's Wife of Bath in R. Steele Poet. Misc. 8 Or else her Wit some Fool-Gallant procures. 1850 Ld. Tennyson In Memoriam cxxv. 195 Ev'n tho' thrice again The red fool-fury of the Seine Should pile her barricades with dead. View more context for this quotation 1887 D. C. Murray & H. Herman One Traveller Returns vii. 100 A fool-dancer, in his ochre-smeared kilt and headdress..sprang and contorted for a reward. 1986 G. Greer Shakespeare v. 103 Plain-speaking and tongue-tied sincerity was a rhetorical convention like any other, but Shakespeare clung to it, embodied in fool-poets, in chuckleheaded peasants and witty children. c. (a) With participles, agent nouns, and verbal nouns, forming compounds in which fool expresses the object of the underlying verb, as in fool-bewitching, fool-frighting (adjectives), fool-making (noun and adjective). Frequently with reference to the deception or exploitation of people, typically with the implication that the victim is foolish or gullible.Cf. also fool-finder n., fool-taken adj. at Compounds 1d(b), fool trap n. at Compounds 3. ΚΠ 1607 Fayre Mayde of Exchange sig. C2 Foole-bewitching beautie. 1624 T. Scott Symmachia 16 The perpetuall Cockering of foole-makeing and foole-fauoring flatterie. 1683 J. Crowne City Politiques iv. 41 A Pamphlet will take up Fools here, make Fools there. A Pamphliteer is the best Fool-maker in the Nation. a1721 J. Sheffield Wks. (1723) I. 238 Fiery Meteors, and Fool-frighting Ghosts. 1865 ‘C. Bede’ Rook's Garden 123 One of the many variations of this favourite pastime of Fool-making through the medium of imaginary spiritualistic and supernatural agency, is known by the name of ‘Ruling the Planets’. 1916 R. Marsh Adventures Judith Lee 101 Together we went to 37, Airedale Street, the advertised address of the fool-snaring Clarice. 1930 S. P. Cadman Answers to Everyday Questions ix. 332 Every business office is perhaps the better for the fool-silencer. 2011 North Shore News (Brit. Columbia) (Nexis) 20 May 42 The A-Team had it all: cigar-chomping badassery,..fool-pitying. (b) fool catcher n. (originally) a person who tricks, cheats, or swindles another; (later more generally) a person that discovers or seeks out fools; cf. coney-catcher n. 1, fool-finder n. 1. ΚΠ 1594 T. Nashe Vnfortunate Traveller sig. C4^v They..in fine left mee and my fellowes (their foole-catchers) Lords of the field. 1626 N. Breton Figure of Foure: 2nd Pt. sig. A6 A Foole-catcher, and a Cony-catcher. 1832 T. J. Serle Merchant of London iv. ii. 97 Foolery! I'm a fool-catcher now—a physician; a knave—no fool. 1880 National Police Gaz. (U.S.) 10 July 2/2 If the fool-catcher should set on a hunting expedition for recruits to fill up the ranks of his army he could not light upon a more eligible candidate than the married man who runs away with his neighbor's girl. 2014 Free Press (Kinstin, N. Carolina) (Nexis) 4 Nov. I walked in one day to find her eating the Cheetos with a fork. At first I didn't say anything, and after a while she looked at me with a grin and asked, ‘You don't think the fool catcher is going to come after me, do you?’ fool-taker n. now historical a person who tricks, cheats, or swindles another; cf. coney-catcher n. 1. ΚΠ 1592 T. Nashe Strange Newes sig. A3 Now do I meane to present him and Shakerley to the Queens foole-taker for coatch-horses. a1652 R. Brome Queen & Concubine ii. v. 34 in Five New Playes (1659) If you be your Queens Fool-taker, you may In Countrey, Court and City quickly find Fools upon Fools that I shall leave behind. 2020 A. Equestri in L. Hopkins & B. Angus Reading from Road vii. 136 These last three adjectives set the victims of the tricks diametrically apart from the fool-takers, who are defined instead as ‘wicked’..‘villain’ or ‘knave’. † fool-taking n. Obsolete the action of tricking, cheating, or swindling another; cf. coney-catching n. 1. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > cheating, fraud > [noun] > action bulling1532 cogging1570 cozening1576 coney-catching1591 fool-taking1592 gulling1600 bat-fowling1602 sharking1602 imposturing1618 mountebanking1672 shamming1677 sharping1692 fineering1765 overreachinga1774 pigeoning1808 flat-catching1821 thimble-shifting1834 thimblerigging1839 strawing1851 thimbling1857 fiddling1884 piking1884 ramping1891 1592 R. Greene (title) The thirde and last part of conny-catching. With the new deuised knauish art of foole-taking. 1608 T. Dekker Belman of London sig. I1 Foletaking..is done seuerall waies [described at length]. d. With past participles. (a) With the past participle implying an innate or characteristic foolishness on the part of the person involved. † fool-begged adj. Obsolete foolish, ridiculous; cf. to beg (any one) for a fool at beg v. 5a.Apparently an isolated use. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > foolishness, folly > [adjective] dizzyc825 unwisec825 redelessOE unwittyc1000 daftlikec1175 witlessc1175 canga1225 adoted?c1225 cangun?c1225 egedec1225 cangeda1250 foola1250 snepea1250 aerwittec1275 sotlyc1275 unslyc1275 unwitterc1275 unwilya1300 nicec1300 goosishc1374 unskilfulc1374 follyc1380 lewdc1380 mis-feelinga1382 dottlec1390 foltedc1390 peevishc1400 fona1425 fonnishc1425 foliousa1450 foolisha1450 daft?c1450 doitedc1450 dotyc1450 daffish1470 insapientc1470 gucked?a1500 wanwittya1500 furious1526 insipient1528 seelya1529 dawish?1529 foolage1545 momish1546 base-wittedc1547 stultitiousa1549 follifulc1550 senseless1565 mopish1568 fondish1579 unsensiblea1586 fondly1587 dizzardly1594 follial1596 featlessc1598 fopperly1599 gowkeda1605 inept1604 simple1604 anserine1607 foppish1608 silly ass1608 unsage1608 wisdomless1608 fool-beggeda1616 Gotham1621 noddy1645 badot1653 dosser-headed1655 infrunite1657 nonsensicalc1661 slight1663 sappy1670 datelessa1686 noddy-peaked1694 nizy1709 dottled1772 gypit1804 shay-brained1806 folly-stricken1807 fool-like1811 goosy1811 spoony1813 niddle-noddle1821 gumptionless1823 daftish1825 anserous1826 as crazy as a loon1830 spoonish1833 cheese-headed1836 dotty1860 fool-fool1868 noodly1870 dilly1873 gormless1883 daffy1884 monkey-doodle1886 mosy1887 jay1891 pithecanthropic1897 peanut-headed1906 dinlo1907 boob1911 goofy1921 ding-a-ling1935 jerky1944 jerk1947 jerkish1948 pointy-headed1950 doofus1967 twitty1967 twittish1969 nerkish1975 numpty1992 a1616 W. Shakespeare Comedy of Errors (1623) ii. i. 41 This foole-beg'd patience in thee will be left. View more context for this quotation fool-born adj. foolish, silly; (in later use also) spec. innately foolish or stupid.Frequently in fool-born jest, with allusion to Shakespeare. ΚΠ 1600 W. Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 2 v. v. 55 Reply not to me with a foole-borne iest. View more context for this quotation 1736 S. Wesley Poems 394 Expos'd by Fool-born Jest to grinning Shame! 1860 A. Gurney Poems (new ed.) 257 How my thirsting spirit parted with a fool-born tiger pride. 1864 J. Anster tr. J. W. von Goethe Faustus: 2nd Pt. i. 15 This jester, with his fool-born tricks. 1922 N. Amer. Rev. Feb. 520 Lamb was an incorrigible jester, but he never replies to us with a fool-born jest. 2003 J. Patterson Jester (e-book ed.) xliii You are certainly fool-born, man, I grant you that. † fool-bred adj. Obsolete foolish, silly. ΚΠ ?1616 W. Goddard Mastif Whelp sig. C2 He prunes out pride, & foole-bredd stately carriadge. 1645 D. North Forest of Varieties i. 48 Subjects of fool-bred scorne, passion, and envy. (b) As a modifier with the sense ‘—— for a fool’, ‘—— to be a fool’, in adjectives denoting the victims of a trick or deception. † fool-found adj. Obsolete that has been made to look foolish by a trick or deception. ΚΠ a1652 R. Brome Damoiselle (1653) ii. i. sig. B7^v When those, that have beene mock'd, still sent their Neighbours, Till halfe the City have bee fool-found. Ha! † fool-taken adj. Obsolete that has been tricked, cheated, or swindled; cf. fool-taker n. at Compounds 1c(b), fool-taking n. at Compounds 1c(b). ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > cheating, fraud > duping, making a fool of > [adjective] > fooled, duped foolified1584 fool-taken1608 cozened1610 gullified1624 gulled1647 sweet1673 bubbled1681 bilked1682 imposed-upon1706 cheated1709 duped1756 pigeoned1777 swindled1809 thimblerigged1840 befooled1842 bamboozled1866 spoofed1958 dicked1972 1608 T. Dekker Belman of London sig. H4^v Others are Foole-taken by letting chambers to fellowes like seruing-men, in the name of such an Esquire, or such a Knight, or such a Captaine new come from the Low Countries, bringing in a trunke exceeding heauy, and crambd full of bricke-bats, which is left in the hired chamber, and fiue times the value of it lifted away in stead of it. (c) As a modifier, with the sense ‘by fools, with fools’, as in fool-frequented, fool-led, fool-renowned, etc. (adjectives). ΚΠ 1742 A. Pope New Dunciad 363 Mummius, Fool-renown'd. 1780 W. Cowper Table Talk 756 The fool-frequented fair of vanity. 1869 ‘Ouida’ Tricotrin II. xviii. 293 The fool-filled thrones of Europe. 1914 H. G. Wells War that will end War vi. 46 I do not know how much slaughter lies before Europe before Germany realises that she is fool-led and fool-poisoned. 1989 Sydney Morning Herald (Nexis) 11 Feb. (Late ed.) (Business section) 39 Stockmarket strategists counselled caution in the wave of investor euphoria. It was too quick and too soon, they said. Some even called it ‘fool-led’, with panicked institutions buying at marked-up prices. e. Forming adjectives with the sense ‘that has a foolish or silly ——’, by combining with a noun + -ed, as in fool-faced, fool-headed, fool-hearted, etc.The meaning of fool-headed and fool-hearted can be interpreted as simply ‘foolish, silly’. ΚΠ 1667 in J. Denham Direct. to Painter 5 Fool-coated Gownman! 1851 Chambers's Edinb. Jrnl. 15 Nov. 308/1 ‘Free-hearted and generous! Fool-hearted and crazy, you mean!’ rejoined the wife. 1925 Punch 4 Mar. 230/3 He is properly content to be all that any parishioner with a sense of dramatic properties could wish a curate to be, namely, awkward, bashful, fool-faced and easily shocked. 2009 J. Dashner Hunt for Dark Infinity (2010) xxxi. 326 George, what in tarnations is this fool-headed sack of pork-and-beans yappin' about? f. As a modifier of adjectives, with the sense ‘like a fool; as —— as a fool; foolishly ——’, as in fool-fine, fool-holy.The earliest and most common formation of this type is foolhardy adj. A number of examples imitate or are alternatives to it, e.g. fool-bold, fool-heady. ΘΚΠ the mind > emotion > courage > daring > reckless daring > [adjective] > rash or overbold hardy?c1225 over-hardyc1225 temeraryc1410 overbolda1425 temerous1461 temerarious1532 fool-bold1549 over-daringa1593 fool-heady1611 temeritous1892 1549 J. Bale in J. Leland Laboryouse Journey Concl. sig. ffiij^v Some in corners hath bene folebolde. 1592 Greenes Groats-worth of Witte sig. B3^v So foole-holy as to make scruple of conscience where profit presents it selfe. 1603 H. Crosse Vertues Common-wealth sig. I2^v To knowe the price of Sattin and Veluet, and toies to make him foole-fine. 1611 J. Speed Hist. Great Brit. vi. i. 184/1 Begging pardon for his foole-heady forwardnesse. 1613 G. Chapman Reuenge Bussy D'Ambois i. sig. C1^v Men thither come, to laugh, and feede foole-fat. 1640 J. Gower tr. Ovid Festivalls iv. 89 Up starts the fool-kind Mother, and stark wild Cries out, What mean you? and snatch'd up her child. 1868 E. Waugh Sneck-bant ii. 25 He ails nought 'at aw know on, nobbut he talks to mich off at th' side, neaw an' then; an' he's foo'-hard. 1977 Washington Post 29 June (Final ed.) (Sports section) d1/1 Only the fool-happy would predict a .400 for anybody with more than half a season to play. g. In compounds where fool negates or undercuts the quality indicated by the second element. † fool-cunningness n. Obsolete apparent cunning that in fact betrays foolishness or misunderstanding.Apparently an isolated use. ΚΠ a1834 S. T. Coleridge Lit. Remains (1838) III. 198 This conceit..was just suited to James's fool-cunningness. † fool-wisely adv. Obsolete in a manner that supposedly shows wisdom but is in fact indicative of ignorance or foolishness.Probably with humorous play on full wisely (cf. full adv. 2a). ΚΠ 1584 R. Cosin Answer to Two Fyrst & Principall Treat. ii. x. 287 Asse he foole wiselie dooth interpret. 1605 W. Camden Remaines i. 76 But fole-wisely have some Petres, called themselves Pierius. 1611 W. Sclater Key (1629) 111 Some of them resoluing, foole wisely, that images are to be worshipped. C2. U.S. In the names of animals, esp. birds.In these formations fool can be interpreted as either noun or adjective. fool duck n. U.S. regional (now rare) the ruddy duck, Oxyura jamaicensis. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > birds > freshwater birds > order Anseriformes (geese, etc.) > subfamily Merginae (duck) > [noun] > erismatura rubida (ruddy duck) pintail1674 saltwater or brown diving teal1678 ruddy goose1785 ruddy duck1800 dun diver1844 stick-tail1844 pin-tailed duck1851 ruddy1877 rudder duck1884 fool duck1888 hardhead1888 paddy1888 paddywhack1888 steel-head1888 hardhead1893 rudder bird1894 1888 G. Trumbull Names & Portraits Birds 111 Others at Detroit, and the ‘punters’ of St. Clair Flats, refer to the species still as fool-duck, deaf-duck, and shot-pouch. 2013 E. C. Beedy & E. R. Pandolfino Birds Sierra Nevada 62 Called ‘fool ducks’ by some hunters, they are easy to decoy and hunt compared to most other waterfowl. fool-fish n. U.S. (now rare) any of numerous filefishes of the family Monacanthidae; (also) any of several flounders of the family Pleuronectidae. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > fish > superorder Acanthopterygii (spiny fins) > order Perciformes (perches) > order Tetraodontiformes (puffers) > [noun] > family Monacanthidae > member of leather-jacket1770 fool-fish1842 scleroderm1842 unicorn-fish1876 the world > animals > fish > superorder Acanthopterygii (spiny fins) > order Perciformes (perches) > order Pleuronectiformes (flat-fish) > [noun] > family Pleuronectidae > genus Pleuronectes > member of yellowbelly1775 patiki1834 fool-fish1842 whiff1867 1842 J. E. De Kay Zool. N.-Y. iv. 335 Our fishermen apply to it [sc. Monocanthus broccus] the whimsical name of Fool-fish, in allusion to..its absurd mode of swimming. 1885 Standard Nat. Hist. III. 279 The Pleuronectes glaber, which is called fool-fish at Salem, because they are easily decoyed. 1960 Wildlife N. Carolina Aug. 13 (caption) The fool-fish is aptly named for his stupid appearance, and fishermen who have found him fumbling around in a net after all other fish have escaped consider him as stupid as he looks. fool hen n. U.S. any of several North American grouse, esp. the spruce grouse, Falcipennis canadensis. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > birds > order Galliformes (fowls) > family Tetraonidae (grouse) > [noun] > member of (grouse) grouse1603 tetraonid1847 fool hen1868 1868 New Albany (Indiana) Daily Commerc. 29 Mar. Fool hens, pheasant and pigeon.., all and singular are found, it is said, on the pleasant hunting grounds of Montana. 1976 N. Maclean River runs through It 59 This fly, tied in a moment of juvenile enthusiasm had about everything on it from deer hair to fool-hen feathers. 2001 R. J. Adams South Road 103 Fool hens weren't as good eating as partridge because they ate spruce needles and had a pretty strong taste. C3. † fool-bane n. Obsolete poison for fools (with the implication that foolish people are a form of pest). ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > foolishness, folly > [noun] > poison for fools fool-bane1679 1679 J. Dryden Troilus & Cressida Epil. 70 'Twere worth our cost to scatter fool-bane here. 1767 W. Harte Amaranth 101 Wretches when sick of life for rats-bane call: 'Twere worth our while to give them fool-bane all. † fool-fangle n. Obsolete an item which is designed to capture the attention, but is ultimately inconsequential or worthless. ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > importance > unimportance > [noun] > that which is unimportant > of little importance or trivial gnatc1000 ball play?c1225 smalla1250 triflec1290 fly1297 child's gamec1380 motec1390 mitec1400 child's playc1405 trufferyc1429 toyc1450 curiosity1474 fly-winga1500 neither mass nor matins1528 boys' play1538 nugament1543 knack?1544 fable1552 nincety-fincety1566 mouse1584 molehill1590 coot1594 scoff1594 nidgery1611 pin matter1611 triviality1611 minuity1612 feathera1616 fillip1621 rattle1622 fiddlesticka1625 apex1625 rush candle1628 punctilio1631 rushlight1635 notchet1637 peppercorn1638 petty John1640 emptiness1646 fool-fangle1647 nonny-no1652 crepundian1655 fly-biting1659 pushpin1660 whinny-whanny1673 whiffle1680 straw1692 two and a plack1692 fiddle1695 trivial1715 barley-strawa1721 nothingism1742 curse1763 nihility1765 minutia1782 bee's knee1797 minutiae1797 niff-naff1808 playwork1824 floccinaucity1829 trivialism1830 chicken feed1834 nonsensical1842 meemaw1862 infinitesimality1867 pinfall1868 fidfad1875 flummadiddle1882 quantité négligeable1885 quotidian1902 pipsqueak1905 hickey1909 piddle1910 cream puff1920 squat1934 administrivia1937 chickenshit1938 cream puff1938 diddly-squat1963 non-issue1965 Tinkertoy1972 1647 N. Ward Simple Cobler Aggawam (ed. 4) 30 Ape-headed pullets, which invent Antique foole-fangles, meerly for fashion..sake. † fool-happy adj. Obsolete bringing about a happy outcome entirely by chance or good luck; fortunate.In quot. 1918 an apparently isolated reintroduction from the dictionary record. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > prosperity > [adjective] > favoured or attended by good fortune > of the nature of good fortune luckya1547 fool-happy1590 providential1719 jammy1853 serendipitous1965 1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene i. vi. sig. E7 His foolhappie ouersight. 1918 W. T. Hornaday Awake! America i. vi. 66 In that event we would be ‘fool-happy’,—‘lucky without judgment or prevision’. fool-killer n. U.S. someone or something that kills foolish people, spec. a legendary character occurring in American folklore who pursues and destroys foolish people; also figurative. ΚΠ 1836 Thomsonian Recorder 21 May 263/1 If you have any fools there, please send them; for this is the year the fool-killer is to come here, and we shall stand in great need of them. 1861 Newark (Ohio) Advocate 26 July Rum, tobacco, and tight-lacing, are the world's three great fool-killers. 1930 E. E. Leisy in J. F. Dobie Man, Bird & Beast VIII. 152 Legends concerning a ‘fool-killer’ seem prevalent enough in Texas. 2007 Guardian 17 Feb. (Work section) 2/2 An acerbic firecracker, Hogan is what Oklahomans call a ‘foolkiller’—a person who takes down the egomaniacs. fool plough n. English regional (northern); now chiefly historical an agricultural custom held on Plough Monday (Plough Monday n.) in which farmhands draw a plough from door to door and collect money; (also) the plough used in this custom; = fond plough n. at fond adj. and n.¹ Compounds 2. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > drama > mime > mumming > [noun] > accessories fool plough1777 stot-plough1778 fond plough1788 1777 J. Brand Observ. Pop. Antiq. xiv. 175 The Fool Plough goes about, a Pageant that consists of a Number of Sword Dancers, dragging a Plough, with Music [etc.]. 1879 Chambers's Jrnl. 25 Jan. 55/1 In a few places they still draw the plough, but the sport is mostly now confined to mumming and alms-gathering. Formerly, the ‘fool-plough’, as it was called, was absolutely essential to the exhibition, and was dragged in procession to the doors of towns-folk and villagers. 2015 Yorks. Post (Nexis) 16 Mar. Walker is also fond of the curious..depicting strange Yorkshire customs such as Riding the Stang, Mid-Summer Eve and the Fool Plough. fool trap n. something designed to deceive or take advantage of foolish, naive, or gullible people; cf. earlier fool's trap n. at Compounds 4b. ΚΠ 1631 W. Watts tr. St. Augustine Confessions iii. vi. 119 How much better then are those fables of the Poets and Grammarians, than these foole-traps? 1691 J. Dryden King Arthur Prol. sig. A6^v Betts, at the first, were Fool Traps. 1875 H. Sampson Hist. Advertising xii. 314 There is, unfortunately, but too much reason to believe that extra prices are charged for these fool-traps, and that in the most pious and pretentious papers. 2006 R. Sharon My Wicked Pirate iv. 31 Even the brave fall lured into fool traps and dupe themselves with high and noble ideals. fool water n. now historical strong alcoholic drink, esp. whisky or some other distilled spirit; = firewater n. 2; cf. fool's water n. at Compounds 4b.In contexts referring to indigenous peoples of North America; often in representations of their usage. ΚΠ 1837 A. Wetmore et al. Gazetteer Missouri 290 The disturber..by the Indians appropriately named ‘fire-water’, and more emphatically ‘fool-water’, was happily beyond their reach. 1999 S. Edwards White Wolf vi. 80 But worse than those were the cravings for what her husband called the white man's fool water. C4. Compounds with fool's:. a. In compounds denoting the characteristic dress and accoutrements of a fool (sense A. 2) or jester, as in fool’s bladder, fool’s motley, etc. See also fool's cap n.¹, fool's coat n., fool's head n., fool's hood n. Now historical.fool's bauble: see bauble n. III. ΚΠ 1578 H. Lyte tr. R. Dodoens Niewe Herball iii. lxxix. 428 Fashioned like a fooles bable [Fr. en forme de massue de fol]. 1692 J. Washington tr. J. Milton Def. People Eng. Pref. p. xx You..deserve to have your Bones well-thrash'd with a Fool's staff [L. morionis..baculo]. 1728 A. Pope Dunciad i. 72 And with her own fools-colours gilds them all. 1881 ‘Ouida’ Village Commune I. v. 164 Atheism makes a curse a mere rattle of dry peas in a fool's bladder. 1923 A. G. Hales Queen of Hearts 139 He snatched up the fool's bauble and shook it playfully. 2012 K. A. Quarmby Disguised Ruler in Shakespeare & his Contemporaries (2016) i. 31 An image of inversion—the prince, king or duke in fool's motley—that becomes a mainstay of disguised ruler drama. b. In fixed expressions with specialized meanings. See also fool's gold n., fool's paradise n. † fool's acre n. Obsolete a place frequented by fools; used as a fictional place name in allusive expressions indicating or implying foolish behaviour.With quot. 1603 compare Needham n. ΚΠ 1603 H. Crosse Vertues Common-wealth sig. I2 They..come home by Need-ham crosse, and fooles acre. 1678 Country Mans Case Uncased (single sheet) Knaves Acre nine times Morgaged to fools Acre. † fool's crochet n. Obsolete a type of crochet worked back and forth in rows, using a longer hook than in standard crochet onto which all the stitches for the row are picked up before being worked off again, creating a thick, dense fabric; now usually called Tunisian crochet (see Tunisian n. and adj. Additions). ΘΚΠ the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile fabric or an article of textile fabric > textile fabric > textile fabric manufactured in specific way > [noun] > consisting of loops or looped stitches > knitted fabric spider-wevet1581 knitwork1628 knit-knot1703 tricot1859 fool's crochet1878 knitting1892 knit1963 1878 Queen Almanac for 1879 58/2 Work a square of the crochet known as Crochet Tricotée, Crochet Tunisien, Railway crochet, Fool's crochet, or Idiot stitch. fool's errand n. a task or activity that has no hope of success; a fruitless undertaking. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > disadvantage > uselessness > uselessness, vanity, or futility > [noun] > a profitless undertaking wild-goose race1594 wild goose chase1597 fool's erranda1629 job1680 water haul1823 rainbow chase1840 Sisyphism1846 blind alley1854 fool's gold1870 mug's game1900 Saltash luck1914 dead end1922 boondoggle1947 a1629 M. Day Serm. 1 Cor. 15 276 in Doomes-day (1636) The Spirit of God doth not meane to set men a worke with a fooles errand, to set men on worke without ensuing profit. 1705 E. Hickeringill Priest-craft 15 Did not the Pope send all the Princes in Christendom upon a Fools Errand, to gain the Holy (unholy) Land. 1884 Cent. Mag. Nov. 59/1 He was only going on a fool's errand again. 1998 C. Barker Galilee vi. vii. 350 She could waste an hour going through the room, but it was a fool's errand. 2002 S. L. Carter Emperor Ocean Park xliv. 493 ‘I see,’ I say, wondering whether I have come on a fool's errand. fool's fire n. (a) a phosphorescent light seen hovering or floating over marshy ground or a body of water; an ignis fatuus or will-o'-the-wisp; (b) (figurative and in figurative contexts) a guiding principle, hope, or aim that deludes or misleads.Cf. foolish fire n. at foolish adj. and n. Compounds 2. [In sense (a) after post-classical Latin ignis fatuus ignis fatuus n.] ΘΚΠ the world > matter > light > light emitted under particular conditions > [noun] > phosphorescence > will-o'-the-wisp fox-fire1483 foolish fire1563 ignis fatuus1563 fool's fire1583 Kit with the canstick or candlestick1584 going fire1596 will-o'-the-wisp1596 meteor1597 firedrake1607 wisp1618 ambulones1621 Dick-a-Tuesday1636 friar's lantern1645 gillian burnt-tail1654 Jill-burnt-tail1654 Jack-o'-lantern1658 fatuous fire1661 wildfire1663 wandering fire or light1667 Jack-a-Lent1680 fairy light1722 spunkie1727 Jill-o'-the-wisp1750 fen-fire1814 fatuus1820 marsh-light1823 feu follet1832 wisp-lighta1847 hob-lantern1847 ghost light1849 elf-fire1855 Peggy-with-her-lantern1855 fatuous light1857–8 marsh-fire1865 swamp fire1903 Min-Min1950 the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > thing seen > optical illusion > [noun] > an optical illusion > ignis fatuus foolish fire1563 ignis fatuus1563 fool's fire1583 will-o'-the-wisp1596 night-fire1633 Dick-a-Tuesday1636 fatuous vapour1661 fatuus1668 draco volans1675 spunkie1727 fen-fire1814 fatuous fire1845 fatuous light1857–8 1583 J. Stockwood tr. J. von Ewich Duetie Magistrate in Time of Plague ii. v. f. 86 Y^e rouing and wandring fire (which some call fooles fire..) the which is wont to folow or go before such as trauel in y^e night. 1615 S. Ward Coal from Altar 16 Blind zeale, smoakie fire, or fooles fire, ignis fatuus..knowledge and discretion, takes wrong waies. 1696 T. Robinson Treat. Meteorol. v. in New Observ. Nat. Hist. 191 This Meteor they call Will with Wisp, or Ignis Fatuus, or Fool's Fire. 1844 H. W. Beecher Seven Lect. to Young Men 82 When it [sc. wit] sets up to be your counsellor or your guide, it is the fool's fire, flitting irregularly and leading you into the quag or morass. 1934 Sci. News Let. 15 Dec. 379/2 Oozing out of the wet muck of swamps and meeting the oxygen of the air, it [sc. methane] dances as the flickering flames known variously as ‘will-o'-the-wisp’, Jack-o'-lantern, and ignis fatuus or ‘fools' fire’. 1983 Proc. Amer. Soc. Internat. Law 77 52 An attachment to a trendy, faddish monetarism which has now been, in effect, abandoned by the Federal Reserve as the fool's fire that it was. fool's haste n. now rare foolish or reckless haste; rashness; often in the proverbial saying fool's haste is no speed, indicating that progress is best made by not rushing or acting rashly; cf. earlier fool haste n. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > manner of action > rapidity or speed of action or operation > [noun] > haste > foolish or reckless foolhastinessc1390 fool hastea1393 swiftnessa1400 hastec1400 racklenessc1405 headlongness1556 precipitation1572 precipitancy1617 precipitance1629 precipitousnessa1660 precipitateness1671 precipitiousness1672 fool's haste1681 1681 N. Blake Baruch's Work Finished 14 He makes fools haste, that being intent on the end,..neglects the most promising means. 1688 Compendious Schoolmaster iii. 79 A Fools haste is no speed. a1732 T. Boston Sovereignty & Wisdom of God (1737) 46 Our faithless Out-of the-Way Attempts to even the Crook, are our Fool's Haste, that's no Speed. 1827 W. Scott Jrnl. 12 Jan. (1941) 6 I wish it [may] not prove fool's haste, yet I take as much pains to [avoid error] as is in my nature. 1909 W. J. L. Sullivan Twelve Years in Saddle 205 Our cook, whom we called Tom, came to the church in ‘fool's haste’, lit off his horse at the church door. 2014 Hobart Mercury (Nexis) 12 Nov. 16 We must avoid acting with malice, or with a fool's haste. fool's hill n. U.S. (frequently with capital initials) a state or period of folly, irrationality, or immaturity, esp. in youth or adolescence. ΚΠ 1874 Wisconsin Jrnl. Educ. Feb. 69/2 A superior teacher..has passed over and left far in the dim distance the fool's hill of self-perfection. 1922 L. Dalrymple Fool's Hill v. 36 Every adolescent youngster has to climb Fool's Hill. 2014 S. A. Linder Doc Holliday in Film & Lit. p. ix I apologize to all the above for my rather extended trip up Fool's Hill. fool's mate n. (also fools' mate) Chess a form of checkmate, given on Black's second move by the queen on h4, after the advance of the g-pawn (to g4) and the f-pawn on White's first two moves; also in figurative contexts.Fool's mate is occasionally also used (particularly by non-chess players) to denote the form of checkmate given in four moves, normally called scholar's mate n. (see scholar n. Compounds 3). Unlike scholar's mate, fool's mate almost never occurs in real games, but it is notable and very familiar to chess players as the shortest possible decisive chess game. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > board game > chess > [noun] > check or checkmate matec1330 mating?a1400 checkc1426 checkmatec1440 scholar's mate1614 fool's mate1618 scholar's check1674 perpetual check1750 smothered mate1804 sui-mate1846 selfmate1848 perpetual1966 1618 J. Barbier Saul's Famous Game Chesse-play (new ed.) xx. sig. E8 A Mate in two draughts..which Mate for him that hath given him, may well..be termd the fools mate. 1787 R. Twiss Chess I. 137 The Scholar's Mate is given in four, and the Fool's Mate in two moves. 1884 Harper's Young People 5 Feb. 219/1 I have shown you the scholar's mate and the fool's mate, partly to warn you of the danger, but more because they show you the game in its simplest form, teach you how checkmate is given, and may give you some notion of how you must look for danger. 1982 P. Kitcher Abusing Science ii. 35 The Creationist try for a quick Fools' Mate can easily be avoided. 2015 Yale Herald (Nexis) 17 Apr. 1 It's a fool's mate, a match won in only a handful of moves. fool's trap n. something designed to deceive or take advantage of foolish, naive, or gullible people; = fool trap n. at Compounds 3. ΚΠ 1617 W. Younger Iudahs Penance in Nurses Bosome 47 Yet this man, as deepe and as politique as he was, how grossely is he here ouer-reached euen by a seely woman; as a man may say catched in a fooles trap. 1714 E. Freke Remembrances (2001) 132 I would signe this lease and..be brought into a fools trapp to seak away eight hundred and fiffty pounds a yeare for three hundred and fiffty. 1776 H. B. Dudley Airs in Blackmoor wash'd White 18 What a whimsical figure of fun! Who baits the fool's trap for himself, And then cries aloud he's undone. 1878 Victoria (Austral.) Parl. Deb. 27 1891 I warn them not to be led into the fool's trap the Council prepare for them. 2016 Western Mail (Nexis) 5 Jan. 27 I've already fallen into the fool's trap of ‘investing’ in new gym gear (not sure clothes ever constitute an investment). fool's water n. now historical strong alcoholic drink, esp. whisky or some other distilled spirit; = firewater n. 2; cf. fool water n. at Compounds 3.In contexts referring to indigenous peoples of North America; often in representations of their usage. ΚΠ 1815 W. Williams & J. Eagles Jrnl. Llewellin Penrose II. xiv. 82 He then made a remark on the practice of drinking strong liquors, and said, perhaps our people did not use the same caution as the Indians, when they took fool's water. 1889 A. Featherman Social Hist. Races Mankind III. 219 They are very temperate and sober in their habits, and never make use of the white man's fool's water. 2009 L. Du Lac Mail Order Bride x. 119 Marques was too smart to allow his braves to have fool's water. c. In plant names. fool's ballocks n. now historical an orchid of, or formerly of, the genus Orchis, with reference to the form of the tubers; esp. the green-winged orchid, Anacamptis morio; cf. fool's stones n. [Compare post-classical Latin testiculus morionis (1568 or earlier).] ΘΚΠ the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular cultivated or ornamental plants > particular flower or plant esteemed for flower > [noun] > orchids > early purple orchids standengussa1400 standelworta1500 gandergoose?1550 adder's grass1551 ragwort1552 cuckoo orchis1578 fool's ballocks1578 Palma Christi1578 standergrass1578 fool's stones1597 fox-stones1597 goat's stones1597 goat stones1597 testicles1597 dead man's finger1604 long purples1604 dead man's thumb1652 man orchis1670 monkey orchisa1678 meadow orchis1753 military orchis1784 male orchis1785 ram's horn1832 lady orchis1846 dead man's hand1853 scorpion plant1866 phalaenopsid1880 walking orchid1910 soldier orchid1934 1578 H. Lyte tr. R. Dodoens Niewe Herball ii. lvi. 222 This second kinde [of Orchis] is called..in English..Fooles Balloxe. 1920 W. E. Brenchley Weeds of Farm Land xiii. 218 Orchis morio, L.—Beldairy, bleeding willow, bull's bags, bullsegg, cuckoo, cuckoo-flower, dandy goshen, dead man's fingers, fool's ballocks, fool's stones. 2006 L. M. Adkins Wildflowers of Appalachian Trail (ed. 2) 134/2 The English variously called it [sc. orchids of the genus Orchis] ‘fool's ballocks’, ‘hares ballocks’, and ‘goat stones’. fool's cicely n. fool's parsley, Aethusa cynapium. ΘΚΠ the world > plants > particular plants > plants perceived as weeds or harmful plants > poisonous or harmful plants > [noun] > fool's parsley dog parsley1633 frog parsley1651 fool's parsley1726 fool's cicely1796 lesser hemlock1796 1796 W. Withering Arrangem. Brit. Plants (ed. 3) II. 305 Æthusa Cynapium..Fool's Cicely, Lesser Hemlock. 1914 A. E. Georgia Man. Weeds (1916) 303 Fool's Parsley... Other English names: False Parsley, Dog's Parsley, Dog Poison, Fool's Cicely. 1996 M. Seger Veil Secrets xxv. 257 ‘Could fool's cicely have done this?’ Sir Raymond asked. fool's cress n. fool's watercress, Apium nodiflorum. ΚΠ 1861 P. Lankester Wild Flowers 31 The Fool's-Cress, as it is called (Sium nodiflorum). 1939 ‘J. Hill’ Wild Foods of Brit. i. 23 The only plant which might be mistaken for it [sc. watercress] by the very careless is ‘Fool's Cress’ (Helosciadium nodiflorum). 2009 J. Lewis-Stempel Wild Life (2010) 207 Fool's cress has umbels of flowers down the stem, opposite the leaves. fool's parsley n. a poisonous annual with umbels of white flowers, Aethusa cynapium (family Apiaceae), native to Eurasia and occurring widely as a weed elsewhere; also (more widely), any plant of the genus Aethusa; also called fool's cicely, lesser hemlock. ΘΚΠ the world > plants > particular plants > plants perceived as weeds or harmful plants > poisonous or harmful plants > [noun] > fool's parsley dog parsley1633 frog parsley1651 fool's parsley1726 fool's cicely1796 lesser hemlock1796 1726 C. Threlkeld Synopsis Stirpium Hibernicarum sig. C4^v Cicutaria tenuifolia, cicutaria minor petroselino similis, Fool's Parsley, The Lesser Hemlock. 1816–20 T. Green Universal Herbal I. 64 Æthusa Fatua, Fine-leaved Fool's Parsley. 2014 J. Eastman Wildflowers Eastern U.S. 125/1 Several carrot family plants (most notably poison hemlock, fool's parsley, and waterhemlock) are deadly toxic. fool's stones n. now historical an orchid of, or formerly of, the genus Orchis, with reference to the form of the tubers; esp. the early purple orchid, O. mascula (more fully male fool's stones) and the green-winged orchid, Anacamptis morio (more fully female fool's stones); cf. fool's ballocks n. ΘΚΠ the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular cultivated or ornamental plants > particular flower or plant esteemed for flower > [noun] > orchids > early purple orchids standengussa1400 standelworta1500 gandergoose?1550 adder's grass1551 ragwort1552 cuckoo orchis1578 fool's ballocks1578 Palma Christi1578 standergrass1578 fool's stones1597 fox-stones1597 goat's stones1597 goat stones1597 testicles1597 dead man's finger1604 long purples1604 dead man's thumb1652 man orchis1670 monkey orchisa1678 meadow orchis1753 military orchis1784 male orchis1785 ram's horn1832 lady orchis1846 dead man's hand1853 scorpion plant1866 phalaenopsid1880 walking orchid1910 soldier orchid1934 1597 J. Gerard Herball i. 159 The male Foole stones hath fiue..long broad and smooth leaues. 1787 Compleat Herbal I. Pl. 47 (caption) Female Fools Stones. 1955 G. Grigson Englishman's Flora (1996) 425 De'il's foot , Berw; dog stones , Som; ducks and drakes (from ‘male’ and ‘female’ tubers), Dor; fox stones , Dor, Som; fool's stones , Ork. 2016 J. Endersby Orchid: Cultural Hist. vii. 134 The ‘grosser’ name used by shepherds would have been one of those we learned in earlier chapters, such as dog's, goat's, or fool's stones (i.e., testicles). fool's watercress n. an aquatic herbaceous plant, Apium nodiflorum (family Apiaceae), native to western Europe and somewhat resembling watercress; also called fool's cress. ΘΚΠ the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > aquatic, marsh, and sea-shore plants > [noun] > water-parsley or aquatic umbellifers water parsley1562 marsh parsley1582 hemlock (water) dropwort1597 water parsnip1597 water lovage1633 five-fingered root1747 marshwort1776 fool's watercress1837 sap-wort1844 1837 Ward's Misc. 15 Feb. 98/1 Similar accidents have arisen from mistaking fool's-watercress for the common watercress. 1960 S. Ary & M. Gregory Oxf. Bk. Wild Flowers 88/1 Fool's Watercress or Marshwort (Apium nodiflorum). 2009 D. D. Williams & C. A. Duigan Rivers Wales vi. 82/1 In more base-rich conditions in the lowlands, watercress Rorippa nasturtium-aquaticum agg. and fool's watercress Apium nodiflorum are common. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2020; most recently modified version published online June 2022). fooln.² Brit. /fuːl/, U.S. /ful/ Forms: 1500s–1600s foole, 1600s– fool. Origin: Probably a variant or alteration of another lexical item. Etymon: fool n.¹ Etymology: Probably a specific use of fool n.¹, suggested by the synonym trifle n. (compare quot. 1598 at sense 1). 1. A cold dessert consisting of thick custard made with cream and flavoured with spices and other aromatic ingredients such as citrus peel and rose water; (also) a dessert resembling a trifle, consisting of layers of this kind of custard and sliced bread, with a decorative sweet topping (cf. Norfolk fool n. at Norfolk n. 4). Now chiefly historical. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > food > dishes and prepared food > egg dishes > [noun] > custard flawnc1300 charlet?c1390 dariole?a1400 dowset1425 flathonc1430 papina1450 flathec1450 fool1598 custarda1616 burnt cream1723 custard pudding1727 custard pie1729 flummery1747 floating island1771 custard cream1805 charlotte russea1845 crème caramel1846 cup-custard1853 pudding1896 crème renversée1912 leche flan1927 galaktoboureko1950 natillas1969 panna cotta1984 1598 J. Florio Worlde of Wordes Mantiglia, a kinde of clouted creame called a foole or a trifle in English. a1637 B. Jonson Sad Shepherd i. vii. 25 in Wks. (1640) III Your cheese-cakes, curdes, and clawted creame, Your fooles, your flaunes. View more context for this quotation a1640 J. Day & H. Chettle Blind-beggar (1659) sig. K2 My Mother..could have taught thee how to a made..fritters, pancakes, I and the rarest fools. 1711 tr. Curiosa Arcana i. xii. 92/1 (heading) To make a Delicate Fool. 1874 All Year Round 1 Aug. 366/1 Mrs. Glasse taught how to make a floating island,..Hanover cake, Hottentot pie, Spanish fritters, Oxford John, pigeons in Pimlico, Westminster Fool. 2015 D. Goldstein Oxf. Compan. Sugar & Sweets 264/2 An early fool without fruit was Norfolk fool, popular in the seventeenth century. 2. A dessert consisting of mashed or pureed fruit mixed with custard or (now typically) whipped cream, and served cold. Originally in gooseberry fool n. 1.Originating as a variation on the custard dessert described in sense 1. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > food > dishes and prepared food > prepared fruit and dishes > [noun] > fool fool1653 gooseberry fool1653 raspberry fool1728 the world > food and drink > food > dishes and prepared food > milk and cream dishes > [noun] > other cream dishes creamc1430 whitepot1577 trifle1598 fool1653 chocolate cream1702 taffety cream1723 crème1845 bavaroise1846 Chantilly cream1851 thunder and lightning1880 crème brûlée1886 crème Chantilly1908 Chantilly1939 the world > food and drink > food > dishes and prepared food > confections or sweetmeats > [noun] > other confections or sweet dishes pionade1302 spinee1381 pokerouncea1450 strawberry cream1523 pannag1540 alkermes1547 sugar-bread1587 snow1597 flammick1600 Norfolk fool1623 fool1653 chocolate cream1702 meringue1706 steeple cream1747 trifle1755 snowball1769 sweet bread1777 marrangle1809 meteor1820 mimpins1820 Nesselrode1835 meringué1845 Swiss cream1845 turban1846 coconut cream1847 panforte1865 yokan1875 bombe1892 Eton mess1896 meringue Chantilly1901 streusel1909 rocky road1920 ringocandy1922 stem ginger1922 dulce de leche1923 kissel1924 some-more1925 cream-crowdie1929 Pavlova cake1929 s'more1934 cranachan1946 sugar-on-snow1947 calavera1948 suji halwa1955 vacherin1960 zuppa inglese1961 brûlée1966 pav1966 delice1967 banoffi1974 macaroon1985 Nanaimo1991 macaron1993 1653 True Gentlewomans Delight 6 (heading) in Choice Man. Secrets Physick & Chyrurgery How to make a Goosberrie Fool. 1739 S. Harrison House-keeper's Pocket-bk. (ed. 2) Index sig. N3/2 Fool, made with Rasberries..Made with Gooseberries. 1747 H. Glasse Art of Cookery (ed. 2) 153 To make an Orange Fool. Take the Juice of six Oranges and six Eggs well beaten, a Pint of Cream, a Quarter of a Pound of Sugar, a little Cinnamon and Nutmeg [etc]. 1837 T. Hood in Comic Ann. 156 Just like gooseberries boil'd for a fool! 1905 C. S. Peel Puddings & Sweets vi. 80 There are several different kinds of sweets, such as trifles, fools,..etc., which come under no particular head. 1984 E. David Omelette & Glass of Wine (1986) 241 Soft, pale, creamy, untroubled, the English fruit fool is the most frail and insubstantial of English summer dishes. 2015 Farming Life (Nexis) 14 Sept. I remember clearly, seeing him pick blackcurrants and that evening we were served a delicious fool. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2020; most recently modified version published online March 2022). foolv. Brit. /fuːl/, U.S. /ful/ Forms: see fool n.¹ and adj. Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: fool n.¹ Etymology: < fool n.¹ Compare foleye v., folly v., and Anglo-Norman and Middle French folier folly v. †1. intransitive. To be or become a fool; to act or behave irrationally. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the world > health and disease > mental health > mental illness > be or become mad [verb (intransitive)] dwelec900 wedec900 awedeeOE starea1275 braidc1275 ravea1325 to be out of mindc1325 woodc1374 to lose one's mindc1380 madc1384 forgetc1385 to go out of one's minda1398 to wede (out) of, but wita1400 foolc1400 to go (also fall, run) mada1450 forcene1490 ragec1515 waltc1540 maddle?c1550 to go (also run, set) a-madding (or on madding)1565 pass of wita1616 to have a gad-bee in one's brain1682 madden1704 to go (also be) off at the nail1721 distract1768 craze1818 to get a rat1890 to need (to have) one's head examined (also checked, read)1896 (to have) bats in the belfryc1901 to have straws in one's hair1923 to take the bats1927 to go haywire1929 to go mental1930 to go troppo1941 to come apart1954 c1400 (?c1380) Cleanness (1920) l. 1422 So faste þay weȝed to him wyne,..wel neȝe he foles. a1450 ( Libel Eng. Policy (Laud) in T. Wright Polit. Poems & Songs (1861) II. 188 Wyse mene seyne, whyche folyne not ne dotyne, That wylde Yrishe so much of grounde have gotyne. 1489 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (Adv.) iv. 222 Bot he fulyt [1487 St. John's Cambr. wes fule] forowtyn wer Yat gaiff throuth till yat creatur. 2. a. intransitive. To act unwisely or imprudently; esp. to spend one’s time in idle, ineffectual, or irresponsible activity; to fool around. Also transitive with it. Now usually in phrasal verbs, esp. to fool with —— 1 at Phrasal verbs 2, to fool around 1 at Phrasal verbs 1.in later use sometimes specifically with reference to kissing and petting; cf. to fool around 4 at Phrasal verbs 1. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > foolishness, folly > be or become foolish [verb (intransitive)] > act foolishly dotec1225 foleyec1374 fop1528 fond1530 daff1535 pract1568 dolt1573 daw1596 fool1597 guck1603 baboonize1611 prat1685 to play the fool1722 niff-naff1728 fopple1756 doitera1790 daffle1796 tomfool1825 to play (also act) the (giddy) goat1841 lallygag1862 silly1877 monkey1878 footle1891 to ass around1899 to play silly buggers (also beggars, bleeders, etc.)1903 to arse around1919 to jackass around1927 nimble-pimble1927 to fuck about1929 to fool up1933 to crap around1936 pantomime1958 prat1961 dork1990 ?1529 R. Hyrde tr. J. L. Vives Instr. Christen Woman ii. xii. sig. o^v They wene theyr husbandes loue nat theyr owne naturall children, bycause they do nat trifle and fole with them all the daye. 1597 W. Shakespeare Richard II v. v. 60 While I stand fooling heere. View more context for this quotation a1616 W. Shakespeare Coriolanus (1623) ii. iii. 121 Rather then foole it so, Let the high Office and the Honor go. View more context for this quotation 1693 R. Ames Bacchanalian Sessions 16 The Court plainly saw how he trifled and fool'd. 1826 W. Scott Woodstock I. v. 134 Zoons, Mark Everard, I can fool it no longer. 1868 E. Bennett Phantom of Forest ii. 21 I war down in the valley thar, hunting so'thing for our supper, whilst you were fooling up he-yar. 1965 M. Hutchins Blood on Doves i. 59 Lilly walked slower and slower in the hills with her young man. Willie saw them fooling in the shed and under the apple tree. 2011 Paisley Daily Express (Nexis) 23 July 2 A group of young people passed by, fooling in the street. †b. transitive (reflexive) and intransitive. With a prepositional phrase, esp. with into or out of, indicating one's state or condition: to take a foolish course of action to one's own detriment. Obsolete.Reflexive examples have a superficially similar structure to reflexive uses of sense 3d, which are common, esp. in modern use (see, e.g., quot. 1916 at that sense). ΚΠ 1606 J. Marston Parasitaster (rev. ed.) iv. sig. G^v I could foole my selfe into a Lordship as I knowe some ha foole them selues out of a Lordeship. a1640 J. Fletcher & P. Massinger Custome of Countrey v. v, in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Comedies & Trag. (1647) sig. Cc4^v/1 Must I needs foole into mine owne destruction? 1668 T. Ford Αυτοκατακριτος 184 'Tis sad to think, how most men fool themselves out of all their hopes. 1680 G. Sikes Expos. Ecclesiastes x. 437 Others, of a perfectly contrary mind, fool themselves into eternal damnation. c. intransitive. Originally: to play the role of the fool (fool n.¹ 2a) or jester. Later usually more generally: to behave in a playful or silly way, esp. in order to make people laugh; to joke; to tease. Now usually in phrasal verbs, esp. to fool about at Phrasal verbs 1, to fool around 2 at Phrasal verbs 1, to fool with —— 2 at Phrasal verbs 2.Recorded earliest in to fool up at Phrasal verbs 1. See also quot. 1606 at sense 2b, where the speaker is a fool and the first instance of fool within the quot. hence involves a reference to this role. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > performance of jester or comedian > perform as jester or comedian [verb (intransitive)] juggle1377 clown1600 fool1640 to fool up1640 the mind > emotion > pleasure > laughter > causing laughter > cause laughter [verb (intransitive)] > jest or joke gameOE jest1553 mow1559 cog1588 to break a jest1589 droll1654 joke1670 fool1673 crack a jest1721 crack a joke1753 pleasant1848 humorize1851 rot1896 kibitz1923 gag1942 1640 J. Fletcher & J. Shirley Night-walker v. sig. K4^v Ile foole up, and provoke yee [to be merry]. 1642 J. Denham Sophy iv. 29 If you have the luck to be Court fooles, those that have Either wit or honesty, you may foole withall and spare not. 1673 T. Shadwell Epsom-Wells iii. 50 I but what do you mean by this, you are always fooling thus before Company. 1810 Sporting Mag. 36 269 I do not think this man was taken to the watch-house because he was fooling. 1947 C. E. Legg et al. School-and-work Programs (U.S. Govt.) 44 School kids are unsatisfactory as bus boys. They do not pay attention to work, always fooling. 2011 Daily News (N.Y.) (Nexis) 27 Sept. 16 She knew I was just fooling. 3. a. transitive. To make (someone) appear foolish; to treat like a fool, make a fool of; (in later use usually) spec. to trick or deceive (someone). See also sense 3d. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > cheating, fraud > duping, making a fool of > befool, cheat, dupe [verb (transitive)] belirtOE bitruflea1250 begab1297 bobc1320 bedaffc1386 befool1393 mock1440 triflea1450 glaik?a1513 bedawa1529 fond?1529 allude1535 gulla1550 dolt1553 dor1570 poop1575 colt1579 foolify1581 assot1583 noddify1583 begecka1586 elude1594 wigeona1595 fool1598 noddy1600 fop1602 begull1605 waddle1606 woodcockize1611 bemocka1616 greasea1625 noddypoop1640 truff1657 bubble1668 cully1676 coaxc1679 dupe1704 to play off1712 noodle1769 idiotize1775 oxify1804 tomfool1835 sammyfoozle1837 trail1847 pipe lay1848 pigwidgeon1852 green1853 con1896 rib1912 shuck1959 1598 W. Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 1 i. iii. 176 That you are foold, discarded, and shooke off By him, for whom these shames ye vnderwent. View more context for this quotation 1645 R. Laugharne Two Lett. sent to W. Lenthal 4 Publishing a Declaration which so fooled the people, that they were resolved to venture their Ruine in the prosecution thereof. 1663 A. Cowley Ode Ld. Broghill's Verses in Verses Several Occasions 2 Be gon..Ingrateful Muse, and see What others thou can'st fool as well as me. 1706 R. Estcourt Fair Example iv. i This Gentleman..that has fool'd your Faith, wou'd betray your Honour. 1786 R. Burns Poems 230 As father Adam first was fool'd. 1818 Ld. Byron Childe Harold: Canto IV clviii. 82 This Outshining and o'erwhelming edifice Fools our fond gaze. 1867 A. Trollope Last Chron. Barset I. xxxviii. 336 [He] ought not to have been fooled by such a woman. 1944 T. Rattigan While Sun Shines i. 32 You're not fooling anyone, Babe, but yourself. 1973 New Scientist 2 Aug. 243/2 There are perhaps six people in Britain..and 20 in the US who would understand the science of tape editing well enough to try to fool the experts. 2003 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 20 Apr. iv. 4/1 Don't be fooled by the few ultragreen gas/electric hybrids you'll hear about. †b. transitive. figurative. To frustrate or ruin (a person’s plans, hopes, etc.). Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > difficulty > hindrance > hindering completely or preventing > hinder completely or prevent [verb (transitive)] > thwart or foil false?c1225 confoundc1315 blenk?a1400 matea1400 interrupt1464 blench1485 fruster?a1513 frustrate?a1513 infatuate1533 disappoint1545 prevent1555 foila1564 blank1566 thwart1581 confute1589 dispurpose1607 shorten1608 foola1616 vain1628 balk1635 throwa1650 scotch1654 bafflea1674 crossbar1680 transverse1770 tomahawk1773 throttle1825 wreck1855 stultify1865 derail1889 to pull the plug1923 rank1924 a1616 W. Shakespeare Antony & Cleopatra (1623) v. ii. 221 Why that's the way to foole their preparation. View more context for this quotation 1682 T. Hoy tr. Ovid Two Ess. 23 The least Delay your fairest Hopes may fool. 1887 Boston Daily Globe 29 Dec. 4/5 Death,..after a struggle of months, finally stooped to fool his hopes. c. transitive. To take or gain (something) from someone by trickery or deception; esp. to swindle (money) from. Usually with away from, out of. Now chiefly U.S. ΘΚΠ the mind > possession > taking > stealing or theft > defrauding or swindling > perpetrate (a swindle) [verb (transitive)] > take by swindling wipec1000 fleece1537 fraud1570 shark1613 boba1616 foola1616 rook1647 sharp1707 escroc1738 swindle1779 skelder1822 the mind > possession > taking > stealing or theft > defrauding or swindling > perpetrate (a swindle) [verb (transitive)] > defraud or swindle > out of something beguile1394 wrongc1484 delude1493 licka1500 to wipe a person's nose1577 uncle1585 cheat1597 cozen1602 to bob of1605 to bob out of1605 gull1612 foola1616 to set in the nick1616 to worm (a person) out of1617 shuffle1627 to baffle out of1652 chouse1654 trepan1662 bubble1668 trick1698 to bamboozle out of1705 fling1749 jockey1772 swindle1780 twiddle1825 to diddle out of1829 nig1829 to chisel out of1848 to beat out1851 nobble1852 duff1863 flim-flam1890 a1616 W. Shakespeare Twelfth Night (1623) v. i. 37 You can foole no more money out of mee at this throw. View more context for this quotation 1888 Belleville (Kansas) Telescope 25 Oct. Riches can be stole, or lost, or fooled away from us. 1910 Everybody's Mag. June 840/1 Couldn't he have fooled it [sc. the combination to a safe] out of her, if she had known? 1923 Cape Vincent (N.Y.) 16 Aug. Their money was fooled away from them by the glittering promises of an unscrupulous broker. 2011 seekingalpha.com 5 May (comment on blog, accessed 12 June 2020) Once again they are raking in cash fooled out of small investors' pockets. d. transitive. To cheat or swindle (a person) out of something; to dupe or lure (a person) into something unpleasant or undesirable (with the result or aim of the deception indicated by a prepositional phrase following the verb). Now usually with into, out of. See also sense 3a. ΘΚΠ the mind > will > motivation > attraction, allurement, or enticement > attract, allure, or entice [verb (transitive)] teec888 tightc1000 drawc1175 tollc1220 till?c1225 ticec1275 bringc1300 entice1303 win1303 wina1340 tempt1340 misdrawa1382 wooa1387 lure1393 trainc1425 allurea1450 attract?a1475 lock1481 enlure1486 attice1490 allect1518 illect?1529 wind1538 disarm1553 call1564 troll1565 embait1567 alliciate1568 slock1594 enamour1600 court1602 inescate1602 fool1620 illure1638 magnetize1658 trepana1661 solicit1665 whistle1665 drill1669 inveigh1670 siren1690 allicit1724 wisea1810 come-hither1954 the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > snare, trap, entanglement > entrap, ensnare [verb (transitive)] shrenchc897 beswike971 betrapa1000 bewindOE undernimc1175 undertakec1175 bisayc1200 beguile?c1225 catchc1225 beginc1250 biwilea1275 tele?a1300 enginec1300 lime13.. umwrithea1340 engrin1340 oblige1340 belimec1350 enlacec1374 girnc1375 encumber138. gnarec1380 enwrap1382 briguea1387 snarl1387 upbroid1387 trap1390 entrikea1393 englue1393 gildera1400 aguilec1400 betraisec1400 embrygec1400 snare1401 lacea1425 maska1425 begluec1430 marl1440 supprise?c1450 to prey ona1500 attrap1524 circumvene1526 entangle1526 tangle1526 entrap1531 mesh1532 embrake1542 crawl1548 illaqueate1548 intricate1548 inveigle1551 circumvent1553 felter1567 besnare1571 in trick1572 ensnare1576 overcatch1577 underfong1579 salt1580 entoil1581 comprehend1584 windlassa1586 folda1592 solicit1592 toil1592 bait1600 beset1600 engage1603 benet1604 imbrier1605 ambush1611 inknot1611 enmesha1616 trammela1616 fool1620 pinion1621 aucupate1630 fang1637 surprise1642 underreacha1652 trepan1656 ensnarl1658 stalk1659 irretiate1660 coil1748 nail1766 net1803 to rope in1840 mousetrap1870 spider1891 1620 J. Melton Astrologaster 51 He doth on the Cards foole many people out of their money. 1624 E. Bolton Nero Caesar xv. 33 Hauing foold her into full beliefe of his sincerenesse.., he held her..till somewhat late in the night. 1678 A. Marvell Acct. Growth Popery (new ed.) 28 The Additional Excise..which the Tripple League had fooled them into. 1715 R. South 12 Serm. IV. 149 Such as come to be thus happily frighted into their Wits, are not so easily fooled out of them again. 1833 H. Blunt Lect. Hist. St. Paul II. 200 It fools you into the belief that [etc.]. 1841–4 R. W. Emerson Polit. in Wks. (1906) I. 237 Nature..will not be fooled or abated of any jot of her authority. 1916 J. A. Guthrie Seeing World through Porthole 104 We may fool ourselves into believing that man is the leader. 1973 Hutchinson (Kansas) News 18 Feb. 4/5 No self-appointed bigot is going to fool me out of my rights. 2013 R. B. Gasaway Situational Awareness for Emergency Response 342 Don't be fooled into a false sense of security. †4. transitive. To reduce (a person) to foolishness or irrationality; to infatuate. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > foolishness, folly > make foolish or a fool of [verb (transitive)] bedotec1385 fona1425 fool1608 to put the ass (also fool) upon (also on)1617 stultify1809 1608 W. Shakespeare King Lear vii. 434 Foole me not to much, To beare it lamely, touch me with noble anger. 1642 J. Denham Sophy iii. 25 Hee's so fool'd with downe-right honesty, Hee'le ne're beleeve it. 1671 W. Vaughan tr. M. Baudier Hist. Admin. Cardinal Ximines vi. 34 This Princess fool'd with the Love of a Lump of dead flesh, would by no means part with it till Ferdinand her Father returned from Italy, caused it to be taken from her, and buryed privately. 1676 J. Dryden Aureng-Zebe iv. 49 When I consider Life, 'tis all a cheat; Yet, fool'd with hope, men favour the deceit. †5. transitive. To waste or squander (something valuable) in foolish or idle pursuits; esp. to fritter away (one’s time). Cf. to fool away at Phrasal verbs 1. Obsolete.Less common than to fool away in all periods. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > inaction > idleness, lack of occupation or activity > cause to be idle or inactive [verb (transitive)] > occupy oneself triflingly with > waste (time) in trifling activity trifle outa1450 trifle1532 loiter1549 picklea1568 toy1575 trifle1587 rust1604 to idle (time) away1652 fool1657 to dally away1685 dangle1727 to piddle away1743 peddle1866 potter1883 putter1911 gold-brick1918 1657 Bp. H. King Poems, Elegies, Paradoxes & Sonnets 125 Men that live thus, as if they liv'd in jest, Fooling their time with Musick and a feast. 1728 E. Young Love of Fame ii, in Wks. (1757) I. 91 What crime In such a paradise to fool their time? 1853 C. Reade Peg Woffington xiii. 279 My life on it, whilst I have been fooling my time here, she is in the field, with all the arts of our sex, simplicity at the head of them. 1895 J. M. Wright Her Ready-made Family i. 13 She takes boarders and don't fool her money on dress. 1920 Akron (Iowa) Reg.-Tribune 1 July I think I told you quite plainly, ladies, that I was busy and did not want to be bothered dressing, talking and fooling my time when I wanted to study. Phrases colloquial (originally U.S.). you could have fooled me: used to express cynicism, doubt, or disbelief about an assertion. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > belief > disbelief, incredulity > expressing disbelief [phrase] do you mean to say (also to tell me)1763 you don't mean to say (also to tell me)1763 tell that to the marines1806 in a horn1847 you are (or have got to be) joking1907 tie that bull outside or to another ashcan1921 you could have fooled me1926 you wouldn't read about it1950 pull the other one (it's got bells on)1966 the mind > language > statement > speaking against or contradiction > speak against or contradict [phrase] you could have fooled me1926 1926 Richfield (Utah) Reaper Aug. 1/4 ‘There are a good many splendid Democrats that could be nominated and elected.’ ‘You could have fooled me,’ replied Doc. 1951 J. Reach My Friend Irma ii. ii. 60 Kropotkin. For a long time, I've been wanting to say them to you. Mrs. O'Reilly. Have you, now? Well, you could've fooled me. 1985 P. Clothier Chiaroscuro xvii. 72 The students were reputed to be the pick of the crop. You could have fooled me. Barely a handful of them could draw. 2015 P. Hall Puzzled Indemnity xxxviii. 146 ‘I wasn't talking about Stephanie.’ ‘Really? You could have fooled me.’ Phrasal verbs PV1. With adverbs in specialized senses. to fool about intransitive. = to fool around at Phrasal verbs 1; esp. to behave in a frivolous, playful, or silly way; to muck about. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > inaction > idleness, lack of occupation or activity > be idle or unoccupied [verb (intransitive)] > potter or waste time in trifling activity trifle?a1400 loiterc1400 tiffc1440 tifflec1440 to pick a salad1520 to play the wanton1529 fiddle1530 dauntc1540 piddle1545 dally?1548 pittlea1568 pingle1574 puddle1591 to thrum caps1594 maginate1623 meecha1625 pudder1624 dabble1631 fanfreluche1653 dawdlea1656 taigle17.. niff-naff1728 tiddle1747 peddle1755 gammer1788 quiddle1789 muddle1791 browse1803 niddle1808 poke1811 fal-lal1818 potter1824 footer1825 putter1827 shaffle1828 to fool about1838 mike1838 piffle1847 mess1853 to muck about1856 tinker1856 bohemianize1857 to fool around1860 frivol1866 june1869 muss1876 to muddle about (also around)1877 slummock1877 dicker1888 moodle1893 to fart about1899 to fart about (or around)1899 plouter1899 futz1907 monkey1916 to arse around1919 to play around1929 to fuck around1931 tool1932 frig1933 boondoggle1935 to muck around1935 to screw around1935 to bugger about1937 to bugger around1939 to piss about1943 to dick around1948 to jerk around1953 fart-arse1954 to fanny around1969 slop1973 dork1982 to twat around (or about)1992 to dick about1996 1838 Herald of Freedom (Concord, New Hampsh.) 22 Dec. 171/4 It is an idiot blue jay,—such as you see fooling about among the shrub oaks. 1861 T. Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. I. xii. 224 You and I, perhaps, go fooling about with him, and get rusticated. 1942 F. Sargeson in N.Z. New Writing 1 5 We'd fool about in the water. 1990 T. McEwen McX (1991) i. 48 McPint likes alcohol made in monasteries. Men of God don't fool about. They have good reasons to get rat-faced. 2010 D. Miller Sea Wolf (e-book ed.) xxvi ‘Cut it out, you two!’ she snapped at the boys, assuming they were fooling about. to fool along Originally and chiefly U.S. 1. intransitive. To undertake an action, venture, etc., in an aimless, inattentive, or dilatory manner. ΚΠ 1834 D. Crockett Narr. Life viii. 124 I lived to see these times, which I should not have done if I had kept fooling along in war. 1866 C. H. Smith Bill Arp, so Called 44 You get a government contract for a few thousand pounds and you fool along with it, selling what you make to these drug men at a bigger price. 1901 A. B. Paine Van Dwellers xii. 167 We did not like to fool along this way, an eighth up and an eighth, or a quarter down, and all uncertainty and tension. 1996 CNN (Nexis) 19 June I've waited all this time, and now are they going to fool along with the trial. 2. intransitive. To move or travel in an unhurried, leisurely way. ΚΠ 1884 ‘M. Twain’ Adventures Huckleberry Finn xxxiii. 285 You turn back and fool along slow, so as to get to the house about the time you ought to. 1934 H. Vines Green Thicket World 20 They fooled along and did not much try to reach the ferryman's house. 1982 D. Francis Twice Shy (2010) 55 He had been fooling along in second gear, believing no doubt that a gun was enough. to fool around 1. intransitive. To pass the time in idle or unfocused activity; to work at something without definite purpose or serious intent; to mess about, tinker.Sometimes with the stronger implication that the activity is foolish, typically because dangerous or irresponsible; cf. to fool with —— 1 at Phrasal verbs 2. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > inaction > idleness, lack of occupation or activity > be idle or unoccupied [verb (intransitive)] > potter or waste time in trifling activity trifle?a1400 loiterc1400 tiffc1440 tifflec1440 to pick a salad1520 to play the wanton1529 fiddle1530 dauntc1540 piddle1545 dally?1548 pittlea1568 pingle1574 puddle1591 to thrum caps1594 maginate1623 meecha1625 pudder1624 dabble1631 fanfreluche1653 dawdlea1656 taigle17.. niff-naff1728 tiddle1747 peddle1755 gammer1788 quiddle1789 muddle1791 browse1803 niddle1808 poke1811 fal-lal1818 potter1824 footer1825 putter1827 shaffle1828 to fool about1838 mike1838 piffle1847 mess1853 to muck about1856 tinker1856 bohemianize1857 to fool around1860 frivol1866 june1869 muss1876 to muddle about (also around)1877 slummock1877 dicker1888 moodle1893 to fart about1899 to fart about (or around)1899 plouter1899 futz1907 monkey1916 to arse around1919 to play around1929 to fuck around1931 tool1932 frig1933 boondoggle1935 to muck around1935 to screw around1935 to bugger about1937 to bugger around1939 to piss about1943 to dick around1948 to jerk around1953 fart-arse1954 to fanny around1969 slop1973 dork1982 to twat around (or about)1992 to dick about1996 1860 Quincy (Illinois) Weekly Whig & Republican 14 July You may fool around..and try to straddle this question, but it won't amount to anything. 1885 Cent. Mag. 29 545/1 They [sc. the pursuers] seemed to stop and fool around awhile. 1951 Megaphone (Georgetown, Texas) (Student's Assoc. Southwestern Univ.) 23 Mar. 3/3 This guy after getting the idea..tinkered, puttered, jacked, and fooled around for 15 or 20 years and finally this machine emerged. 2002 Time 26 Aug. a10/1 Environmentalists worry that fooling around with genes is a recipe for Frankensteinian disaster. 2004 B. Dylan Chronicles Vol. 1 iv. 190 At about three in the morning we..just started playing any old stuff... Just fooling around, playing like we were on a party boat. 2. intransitive. To behave in a playful, joking, or silly way; to muck about.Frequently with the connotation that the behaviour is irritating, and sometimes more strongly, irresponsible. ΚΠ 1878 Cornelian 1877–8 86 Monkey, to fool around. 1895 Helena (Montana) Weekly Independent 12 Dec. 5/1 ‘You say that Mr. Horsky was always fooling around?’ responded the attorney. ‘Yes; he is always acting the dunce,’ was the reply. 1938 J. Fante Wait until Spring, Bandini (1983) i. 37 ‘For Christ's sake!’ he said. ‘Will you drink that milk and quit fooling around?’ 1992 B. Geist Little League Confidential iii. 33 Focus is always the problem. Kids like to fool around too much these days. They can't concentrate anymore. 2016 Times of India (Nexis) 5 Jan. I might be childish and might fool around all the time but I do have a romantic side to me. 3. intransitive. To engage in a casual sexual relationship, esp. to have sexual relationship with someone who is married or who is not one's usual partner; to have an affair. Also: to be habitually unfaithful to one's partner. Frequently with with. ΘΚΠ society > morality > moral evil > licentiousness > unchastity > [verb (intransitive)] > be promiscuous to play legerdeheel1605 to put it about1817 to do the (also a) naughty1902 to fool around1923 sleep1928 to play around1929 alleycat1937 to screw around1939 bed-hop1943 tom1950 horse1953 to whore it up1956 swing1964 society > morality > moral evil > licentiousness > unchastity > [verb (intransitive)] > be unfaithful to fool around1923 to cheat on1934 two-time1975 1923 S. Anderson Horses & Men 52 It is better not to fool around with a young girl or with some other man's wife. 1978 P. Grace Mutuwhenua iv. 16 You fool around with my girl and I'll boot your head. 1980 Los Angeles Times 2 Nov. (Bk. Review) 12/3 He fools around on his wife. 2013 Afr. News (Nexis) 10 Oct. After the house girl saga, this ninja went ahead to fool around with his wife's cousin who had come over for a brief stay. True story. 4. intransitive. To engage in kissing, petting, etc., with someone (as opposed to having sexual intercourse). ΘΚΠ the mind > emotion > love > action of caressing > caress or make a show of affection [verb (intransitive)] > fondle, embrace, or caress neck1825 to fool around1959 1959 W. Brown Teen-age Mafia 34 You and me, we ain't done nothing but fool around like a couple of babies. Do you think I like it, getting worked up every night and never getting no more? 1994 A. Birnbaum tr. H. Murakami Dance Dance Dance (1995) 145 But we didn't go all the way, as we used to say. We only fooled around. 2006 Myrtle Beach (S. Carolina) Sun-News (Nexis) 6 Oct. 34 I finally gave in and fooled around with him on the fourth night (no sex). to fool away transitive. To waste or squander (something valuable) in foolish or idle pursuits; esp. to fritter away (one’s time or money). ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > disadvantage > uselessness > misuse > [verb (transitive)] > waste spilla1000 scatter1154 aspilla1250 rospa1325 waste1340 spend1390 consumec1425 waste1474 miswenda1500 forsumea1510 to cast away1530 to throw away1561 embezzle1578 squander1593 palter1595 profuse1611 squander1611 ravel1614 sport1622 to fool away1628 to stream out1628 to fribble away1633 sweal1655 frisk1665 to fiddle away1667 wantonize1673 slattera1681 swattle1681 drivel1686 swatter1690 to muddle away1707 squander1717 sot1746 slattern1747 meisle1808 fritter1820 waster1821 slobber1837 to cut to waste1863 fringe1863 potter1883 putter1911 profligate1938 to piddle away1942 haemorrhage1978 spaff2002 1628 G. Wither Britain's Remembrancer iii. f. 80^v Foole thy life away By tempting Heav'n. 1647 tr. J. Böhme Way to Christ xv. 23 He hath fooled away so great a Glory for so frivolous vanitie, and false delights sake. 1660 S. Pepys Diary 1 June (1970) I. 166 Where I..fooled away all the afternoon. 1711 J. Swift Jrnl. to Stella 9 July (1948) I. 310 I have fooled away too much money that way already. 1863 C. C. Clarke Shakespeare-characters xx. 507 He fools away his time, his money, and his health. 1933 A. G. Chater tr. S. Undset Ida Elizabeth (2011) ii. ii God knows how she had managed to fool away her life so completely. 2018 L. T. McDonnell Performing Disunion xvi. 340 While others fooled time away with tilting or chess or political factionalism, the fireman was urban America's Galahad. † to fool off 1. transitive. To trick or deceive (someone). Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > cheating, fraud > trickery, playing jokes > trick, hoax [verb (transitive)] jape1362 bejape1377 play1562 jugglea1592 dally1595 trick1595 bore1602 jadea1616 to fool off1631 top1663 whiska1669 hocus1675 to put a sham upon1677 sham1677 fun?1685 to put upon ——1687 rig1732 humbug1750 hum1751 to run a rig1764 hocus-pocus1774 cram1794 hoax1796 kid1811 string1819 to play off1821 skylark1823 frisk1825 stuff1844 lark1848 kiddy1851 soap1857 to play it (on)1864 spoof1889 to slip (something) over (on)1912 cod1941 to pull a person's chain1975 game1996 1631 B. Jonson Divell is Asse ii. vi. 122 in Wks. II The Divell is an Asse! fool'd off! and beaten! 1635 J. Reynolds Triumphs Gods Revenge (new ed.) v. xxii. 467 Hee..fooles her off with this flamme, That he hath effectually invocated and raised his Spirit. 1650 J. Trapp Clavis to Bible (Gen. xxi. 1) 162 He fools them not off with fair promises. 2. transitive. To delay or avoid (something) by use of deception or trickery. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > evasive deception, shiftiness > evade [verb (transitive)] > put off pop1530 to put off1569 to fode forth (also occasionally forward, off, on, out)1591 to shift offc1592 foist1598 to fob off1600 fub1600 to shuffle off1604 doffa1616 jig1633 to trump upa1640 whiffle1654 to fool off1664 sham1682 drill1752 to set off1768 to put by1779 jilt1782 palm1822 stall1829 job1872 to give (a person) the go-around1925 1664 H. More Modest Enq. Myst. Iniquity ii. xx. 456 But so manifest Eviction..will not be fooled off for ever. a1704 R. L'Estrange Fables Moralized (1708) lxix. 57 This Reproche was as pleasantly Fool'd-off as the Subject would well bear. † to fool on intransitive. To spend one’s time in idle or aimless pursuits; to behave in a frivolous or silly way. Obsolete. ΚΠ 1667 R. L'Estrange tr. F. de Quevedo Visions vi. 250 He could not fool on, to the End of the Chapter. 1677 T. Sheridan Disc. Rise & Power Parl. 80 Let them fool on that have nothing else to do. 1753 S. Richardson Hist. Sir Charles Grandison IV. xxxiii. 228 How you..fooled on with us, before you came to confession! † to fool out transitive. To lose or give up (something valuable) through foolishness or recklessness; to squander. Cf. to fool away at Phrasal verbs 1. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the mind > possession > relinquishing > squandering or prodigality > squander [verb (transitive)] forspendc893 scatter1154 dispend1303 waste1340 misspendc1390 miswastec1400 consumec1425 waste1474 profund1527 lasha1535 prodige1538 lavish1542 to play away1562 riot1566 embezzle1578 dilapidate1590 squander1593 confound1598 to make ducks and drakes of or withc1600 prodigalize1611 profuse1611 squander1611 paddle1616 bezzle1617 to run out of ——1622 to piss away1628 prodigal1628 decoct1629 to bangle (away)1632 debauch1632 deboise1632 to fribble away1633 to fool out1635 to run outa1640 to fiddle away1667 slattera1681 dissipate1682 to play off1693 duck-and-drake1700 liquidate1702 sparkle away1703 waster1821 befool1861 to frivol away1866 to play (at) duck and drake with1872 to fling away1873 mislive1887 slather1904 mucker1928 profligate1938 peter1956 spaff2002 1635 G. Wither Coll. Emblemes iv. xlix. 257 As if you..had a Life, or twaine To live, when you had fool'd out this in vaine. 1641 E. Dering Coll. Speeches on Relig. 22 Nov. (1642) xv. 69 Let no Ammonite perswade the Gileadite to foole out his right eye. 1651 Detection Faults Unskilful Physitians Pref. sig. I5^v, in R. Record Urinal of Physick (new ed.) I scarce beleeve any wiseman would fool out a groat on your judgement. to fool round intransitive. = to fool around at Phrasal verbs 1 (in various senses). ΚΠ 1850 R. Hardy Hist. & Adventures Cuban Exped. i. 14 I would find him pretending to work, but merely fooling round. 1894 E. V. B. Matthews tr. L. Halévy Parisian Points of View 168 Instead of fooling round with little white women in Paris, he will fool round with little yellow ones at Singapore. 1935 D. L. Sayers Gaudy Night vii. 147 There are much better ways of enjoying Oxford than fooling round..with the women students. 2009 Sun (Nexis) 28 Apr. 12 Moments later she was grinning again as she fooled round with a little bugle. to fool up 1. †a. intransitive. To play the role of the fool or jester . Obsolete.Quot. a1625 has been interpreted by some later editors as showing to fool up, although the punctuation of 17th-cent. editions suggests fool is a noun. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > performance of jester or comedian > perform as jester or comedian [verb (intransitive)] juggle1377 clown1600 fool1640 to fool up1640 a1625 J. Fletcher Mad Lover v. iv, in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Comedies & Trag. (1647) sig. D3/1 Foole, up sirra, You may chance get a dinner.] 1640 J. Fletcher & J. Shirley Night-walker v. sig. K4^v Ile foole up, and provoke yee [to be merry]. b. intransitive. Chiefly U.S. To behave in a playful, silly, or joking way; (also) to flirt. ΘΚΠ the mind > emotion > love > flirtation or coquetry > flirt, philander, or dally [verb (intransitive)] flicker?c1225 dallyc1440 mird?c1625 pickeer1646 to dally away1685 niggle1696 coquet1700 gallant1744 philander1778 flirt1781 fike1804 gallivant1823 butterfly1893 vamp1904 romance1907 to fool up1933 floss1938 cop1940 horse1953 the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > foolishness, folly > be or become foolish [verb (intransitive)] > act foolishly dotec1225 foleyec1374 fop1528 fond1530 daff1535 pract1568 dolt1573 daw1596 fool1597 guck1603 baboonize1611 prat1685 to play the fool1722 niff-naff1728 fopple1756 doitera1790 daffle1796 tomfool1825 to play (also act) the (giddy) goat1841 lallygag1862 silly1877 monkey1878 footle1891 to ass around1899 to play silly buggers (also beggars, bleeders, etc.)1903 to arse around1919 to jackass around1927 nimble-pimble1927 to fuck about1929 to fool up1933 to crap around1936 pantomime1958 prat1961 dork1990 1933 C. Miller Lamb in Bosom 129 Why had he ever fooled up with her? 1965 L. Meyer Customer is Always iii. 50 The boss has a theory about customers. If you take time to fool up with the impossible ones you'll have no time for the nice ones. 1997 T. McClain-Watson Plenty Good Room iv. 99 I rather be dead than fool up with a fool like him! 2. transitive. Chiefly U.S. and Caribbean. To deceive or trick (someone). Cf. sense 3a. ΚΠ 1877 Testimony Denial Elective Franchise S. Carolina Elections 1875 & 1876 I. 103 in U.S. Congress. Serial Set (44th Congr., 2nd Sess.: Senate Misc. Doc. No. 48) VI We were fooled up by the northern people. 1914 H. G. de Lisser Jane's Career i. 4 Don't allow any of those Kingston buoy to fool you up. 2019 @aquarina 27 Sept. in twitter.com (accessed 16 June 2020) People will tell you anything to fool you up. you gotta know the truth and be confident with it. PV2. With prepositions in specialized senses. to fool round —— (also to fool around ——) U.S. colloquial. Now rare. intransitive. To hang or loiter around (someone); spec. to flirt with. Cf. to fool around at Phrasal verbs 1, to fool round at Phrasal verbs 1. ΚΠ 1839 Morning Herald (N.Y.) 16 Sept. You come fool round dis child, you get a chuck. 1846 Knickerbocker Oct. 355 That young carpenter, Jack Plane, is fooling around the girl. 1901 S. R. M. Greene Flood-tide viii. 59 She got to foolin' 'round him an' fingerin' the button-hole on his coat. 1954 in Dict. Amer. Regional Eng. (1991) II. He's a-foolin' 'round that old hussy all time. to fool with —— 1. intransitive. To toy, meddle, or interfere with (someone or something); to mess about with. Now often with the implication that the activity is foolish, typically because dangerous or irresponsible. ΚΠ ?1644 J. Taylor Most Curious Mercurius Brittanicus Answer'd 7 I could fool with the quondam Grooms name. 1676 W. Wycherley Plain-dealer iv. i My heart is too much in earnest to be fooled with. ?1747 State of Nation Consider'd 20 We are suspended between Hope and Fears, trifling with a War, and fooling with Negociations. 1884 Manch. Examiner 28 June 4/6 The accused..began fooling with a loaded gun. 1888 Detroit Free Press 6 Oct. 1/4 You don't want to fool with those Quakers any, and don't you forget it. 1934 J. M. Cain Postman always rings Twice viii. 71 I began to fool with her blouse, to bust the buttons, so she would look banged up. 1992 N. Maclean Young Men & Fire i. i. 36 When you fool with a backfire, you are really fooling with fire. 2010 Sci. Amer. (U.K. ed.) Mar. 68/2 Don't phone and drive, don't fool with the MP3 player and drive. 2. intransitive. To tease, joke with (someone). ΚΠ 1900 G. Patten Rockspur Nine i. 16 Really and truly, you chaps are too easy! We've just been fooling with you. 1995 R. E. Nichols Birds Algonquin Legend 84 I was only fooling with you, little brother, and you took me seriously! 2011 @tomcat0506 23 July in twitter.com (accessed 16 June 2020) Only fooling with you m8, I'm not the spelling police. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2020; most recently modified version published online March 2022). < n.¹adj.c1225n.²1598v.c1400
随便看	intonation curve intonation morpheme intonation pattern intonation phoneme intonation tune intonation turn intonational intonationally intonations intonator intonators intone intoned intoneme intonement intonements intoner intoners intones intonico intoning intonings intoothed intopiaried intorsion

fooln.1adj.

Phrases

Compounds

fooln.2

foolv.

Phrases

Phrasal verbs

fooln.¹adj.

fooln.²