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Fool

//fuːl// adj, name, noun, verb, slang

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Foolish. informal

    "Of all the fool, fruitless jobs, making anything of a creature that begins by deceiving her, is the foolest a sane woman ever undertook."

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname.
  2. 2
    Alternative letter-case form of fool (“a particular card in a tarot deck, representing a jester”). alt-of
Noun
  1. 1
    A person with poor judgment or little intelligence. derogatory

    "You were a fool to cross that busy road without looking."

  2. 2
    A type of dessert made of puréed fruit and custard or cream.

    "an apricot fool; a gooseberry fool"

  3. 3
    a person who is gullible and easy to take advantage of wordnet
  4. 4
    A jester; a person whose role was to entertain a sovereign and the court (or lower personages). historical

    "1896, Frederick Peterson IN Popular Science Monthly Volume 50 December 1896 , Idiots Savants This court fool could say bright things on occasion, but his main use to the ladies and lords of the palace was to serve as victim to practical jokes, cruel, coarse, and vulgar enough to be appreciated perhaps in the Bowery."

  5. 5
    a person who lacks good judgment wordnet
Show 6 more definitions
  1. 6
    A stock character typified by unintelligence, naïveté or lucklessness, usually as a form of comic relief; often used as a source of insight or pathos for the audience, as such characters are generally less bound by social expectations.
  2. 7
    a professional clown employed to entertain a king or nobleman in the Middle Ages wordnet
  3. 8
    Someone who has been made a fool of or tricked; dupe.

    "Such clouds of nameless trouble cross ⁠All night below the darken’d eyes; ⁠With morning wakes the will, and cries, ‘Thou shalt not be the fool of loss.’"

  4. 9
    Someone who derives pleasure from something specified. informal

    "Can they think me […] their fool or jester?"

  5. 10
    An informal greeting akin to buddy, dude, or man. slang

    "Upon opening the door, Trech was suddenly drawn aback by the shocking presence of the armed goon standing directly in front of him. “Yo, what up fool? […]”"

  6. 11
    A particular card in a tarot deck, representing a jester.
Verb
  1. 1
    To trick; to deceive. transitive

    "She bit it gently and found that it resembled a worm in no way whatsoever as to taste although because it was long and slender, a Little Red Hen might easily be fooled by its appearance."

  2. 2
    indulge in horseplay wordnet
  3. 3
    To act in an idiotic manner; to act foolishly. intransitive

    "1681/1682, John Dryden, The Spanish Fryar Is this a time for fooling?"

  4. 4
    fool or hoax wordnet
  5. 5
    To make a fool of; to make act the fool. archaic

    "They fool me to the top of my bent."

Show 2 more definitions
  1. 6
    spend frivolously and unwisely wordnet
  2. 7
    make a fool or dupe of wordnet

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English fole (“fool”), from Old French fol (cf. modern French fou (“mad”)) from Latin follis. Doublet of fals and follis. Displaced native Old English dwæs.

Etymology 2

From Middle English fole (“fool”), from Old French fol (cf. modern French fou (“mad”)) from Latin follis. Doublet of fals and follis. Displaced native Old English dwæs.

Etymology 3

From Middle English fole (“fool”), from Old French fol (cf. modern French fou (“mad”)) from Latin follis. Doublet of fals and follis. Displaced native Old English dwæs.

Etymology 4

From Old French fouler (“to mix or mash”).

See also for "fool"

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