1650 H. More Observ. Anthroposophia Theomagica 28 Come out Tom-Fool from behinde the hangings,..and put off your vizard and be apert and intelligible.

1699 E. Ward London Spy I. vii. 15 They turn'd their Arses upon the Players, and devoted themselves wholly to the Monkeys, to the great vexation of Tom-Fool.

1773 R. Graves Spiritual Quixote I. ii. xv. 115 Those who are acquainted with this sort of morrice-dance..must know that they are usually attended with one character called the ‘Tom Fool’: who, like the clown in the pantomime, seems to be a burlesque upon all the rest.

1846 W. M. Thackeray in Punch 4 July 4/2 A theatre-manager..walking backwards in a Tom-Fool's coat.

1893 J. Salisbury Gloss. Words S.E. Worcs. at Morris-dance In the neighbourhood of Pershore the morris-dancers go out for about ten days at Christmas-tide, accompanied by their musician and a ‘tom-fool’.

1932 Jrnl. Eng. Folk Dance & Song Soc. 1 71 He had been the Squire (that is to say, the ‘tom-fool’) of the Bledington men.

2016 Worcester News (Nexis) 23 Mar. Sylvesta the jester will be showing children how to be a medieval jester... Learn how [to] be the best tom fool and how to make merry the medieval way.

1677 W. Hughes Man of Sin ii. ix. 139 But poor Thomas is made a Tom-fool of; for they make a bridge of his Nose, for ought I find, and leave him nothing.

1730 J. Miller Humours Oxf. iii. 40 S'Death, Madam, do you think to make me your Tom-fool, your Laughing-Conveniency?

1796 M. Robinson Angelina II. 131 ‘So then I am to be the only properly drest person at the wedding? In short, the Tom fool of the company,’ said he.

1841 ‘C. Selby’ Maximums & Speciments W. Muggins xxxiii. 310 Aynt it enough that a man is taken away from his business..arout being turned hinto ridicule, and held hup as a tom-fool for the hamusement of a pack of idlers?

1879 Weekly Leader (Bloomington, Illinois) 14 Aug. I am glad to see..that you have not made a tomfool of yourself like the rest of them.

1911 Emporia (Kansas) Daily Gaz. 20 Aug. They urged me to make a tomfool of myself by racing at my age.

1994 Press Assoc. (Nexis) 20 Sept. He is making a Tom Fool out of himself in the way he is behaving.

1762 L. Sterne Life Tristram Shandy V. xxx. 107 'Twas a Tom-fool-battle.

1819 W. Scott Let. 25 Nov. (1934) VI. 28 I had some regret in putting him into that Tom Fool dress which is so unlike that of a British soldier.

1842 G. Cholmley To Commissioners acting under Whitby New Improvem. Act 5 I thought this very Tom-fool play.

1879 G. A. Sala Paris herself Again I. x. 151 You may..wear whatever tomfool costume you like to assume.

1903 Sat. Rev. 7 Feb. 172/2 The absolute tom-fool nonsense in which Fielding could indulge.

1911 H. I. Hancock Uncle Sam's Boys on Field Duty vi. 78 It isn't so tom-fool, after all. It teaches soldiers a lot about the real manœuvres of war.

1962 Rocky Mount (N. Carolina) Telegram 28 Mar. 8 b/2 I wonder whose tomfool idea this is?

2012 Daily Mirror 30 Nov. 35/1 They gave me a lot of tomfool questions to answer, which I did to the best of my ability.

1825 T. Hook Sayings & Doings 2nd Ser. I. 181 She began lecturing and tom-fooling with as great a quack as herself.

1836 T. Hook Gilbert Gurney I. i. 15 All the lovers and their ladies were to be flirting and tom-fooling about in the costume of the then present day.

1979 Guardian 9 Apr. 11/6 If I found myself in that position I would not tomfool around playing music.

2013 M. Lewisohn Beatles: All these Years I. 53 He tomfooled around London with a few shipmates.

1835 D. P. Thompson Adventures Timothy Peacock xii. 133 I had wit enough, it seems, to Tom-fool the whole posse of 'em there in New-York.

1859 A. Lookup Italy Free iv. ii. 76 I'll be hanged, if I don't play the original Great Napoleon and mightily tomfool them both.

1874 C. C. Coffin Caleb Krinkle l. 477 The newspapers lied like the Old Scratch, and all Millbrook has been Tom-fooled.

1902 Boy's Own Paper 13 Dec. 162/2 Be you a-tryin' to tomfool us?

1976 Fairpress (Westport, Connecticut) 7 July 20 a/1 Carey finds..children often more interested in ‘figuring out the trick’ than being tomfooled or befuddled by the magician.

2004 R. Adams Crossing Jordan ii. 53 With a shrug of the shoulder, they question whether they'd not been tomfooled..into believing a mirage.