Fool \Fool\, n. [Cf. F. fouler to tread, crush. Cf. 1st Foil.]
A compound of gooseberries scalded and crushed, with cream;
-- commonly called gooseberry fool.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Fool \Fool\, n. [OE. fol, n. & adj., F. fol, fou, foolish, mad;
a fool, prob. fr. L. follis a bellows, wind bag, an inflated
ball; perh. akin to E. bellows. Cf. Folly, Follicle.]
1. One destitute of reason, or of the common powers of
understanding; an idiot; a natural.
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2. A person deficient in intellect; one who acts absurdly, or
pursues a course contrary to the dictates of wisdom; one
without judgment; a simpleton; a dolt.
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Extol not riches, then, the toil of fools. --Milton.
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Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn
in no other. --Franklin.
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3. (Script.) One who acts contrary to moral and religious
wisdom; a wicked person.
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The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.
--Ps. xiv. 1.
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4. One who counterfeits folly; a professional jester or
buffoon; a retainer formerly kept to make sport, dressed
fantastically in motley, with ridiculous accouterments.
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Can they think me . . . their fool or jester?
--Milton.
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April fool, Court fool, etc. See under April, Court,
etc.
Fool's cap, a cap or hood to which bells were usually
attached, formerly worn by professional jesters.
Fool's errand, an unreasonable, silly, profitless adventure
or undertaking.
Fool's gold, iron or copper pyrites, resembling gold in
color.
Fool's paradise, a name applied to a limbo (see under
Limbo) popularly believed to be the region of vanity and
nonsense. Hence, any foolish pleasure or condition of vain
self-satistaction.
Fool's parsley (Bot.), an annual umbelliferous plant
({Aethusa Cynapium) resembling parsley, but nauseous and
poisonous.
To make a fool of, to render ridiculous; to outwit; to
shame. [Colloq.]
To play the fool, to act foolishly; to act the buffoon; to
act a foolish part. "I have played the fool, and have
erred exceedingly." --1 Sam. xxvi. 21.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Fool \Fool\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Fooled; p. pr. & vb. n.
Fooling.]
To play the fool.
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2. To waste time in unproductive activity; to spend time in
idle sport or mirth; to trifle; to toy.
Syn: fool around.
[PJC]
Is this a time for fooling? --Dryden.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Fool \Fool\, v. t.
1. To infatuate; to make foolish. --Shak.
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For, fooled with hope, men favor the deceit.
--Dryden.
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2. To use as a fool; to deceive in a shameful or mortifying
manner; to impose upon; to cheat by inspiring foolish
confidence; as, to fool one out of his money.
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You are fooled, discarded, and shook off
By him for whom these shames ye underwent. --Shak.
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To fool away, to get rid of foolishly; to spend in trifles,
idleness, folly, or without advantage.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
fool
n 1: a person who lacks good judgment [syn: sap, saphead, muggins,
tomfool]
2: a person who is gullible and easy to take advantage of [syn:
chump, gull, mark, patsy, fall guy, sucker, soft
touch, mug]
3: a professional clown employed to entertain a king or
nobleman in the middle ages [syn: jester, motley fool]
v 1: make a fool or dupe of [syn: gull, befool]
2: spend frivolously and unwisely; "Fritter away one's
inheritance" [syn: fritter, frivol away, dissipate,
shoot, fritter away, fool away]
3: fool or hoax; "The immigrant was duped because he trusted
everyone"; "You can't fool me!" [syn: gull, dupe, slang,
befool, cod, put on, take in, put one over, put
one across]
4: indulge in horseplay; "Enough horsing around--let's get back
to work!"; "The bored children were fooling about" [syn: horse
around, arse around, fool around]
WordNet (r) 2.0
291 Moby Thesaurus words for "fool":
Columbine, Hanswurst, Harlequin, Pantalone, Pantaloon,
Polichinelle, Pulcinella, Punch, Punchinello, Scaramouch, ament,
apish, asinine, ass, babe, bamboozle, banter, batty, be foolish,
be stupid, befool, befooled, beguiled, besotted, birdbrain,
blockhead, bluff, bonehead, boob, booby, brainless, buffo, buffoon,
buffoonish, busybody, butt, butt in, byword, byword of reproach,
cavort, cheat, chouse, chucklehead, chump, cinch, clod, clodpate,
clodpoll, clown, clown around, cockeyed, come-on, comedian,
comedienne, comic, con, coquet, cozen, crazy, credulous,
credulous person, cretin, cull, dabble, dabbler, daffy, daft,
dally, dawdle, dazed, deceive, defraud, delude, derision,
dilettante, dimwit, dizzy, dolt, donkey, doodle, dope, doting,
droll, dumb, dumbbell, dummy, dunce, dupe, easy mark,
easy pickings, entertainer, fair game, fake, fake out, fall guy,
farceur, fatuitous, fatuous, featherbrain, featherhead, feign,
fiddle, fiddle with, fiddle-faddle, fidget with, figure of fun,
finger with, fish, flaky, fleece, flirt, fond, fool around,
fool with, foolheaded, foolish, footle, fribble, frivol, frolic,
fuddled, futile, gaga, gambol, game, gazingstock, get funny, git,
go haywire, goat, gobe-mouches, goofy, goon, goose, greener,
greenhorn, greeny, gudgeon, gull, gulled, half-wit, harlequin,
hoax, hoodwink, horn in, horse around, humbug, idiot, idiotic,
idle, ignoramus, illiterate, illiterati, imbecile, inane, inept,
infatuated, innocent, insane, instrument, interfere, interlope,
intermeddle, invite ridicule, jack-pudding, jackass, jay, jerk,
jerk off, jest, jester, jestingstock, joke, joker, jokester, josh,
kid, kid around, know-nothing, kooky, laughingstock, lead on,
leadpipe cinch, loiter, loon, loony, loser, lowbrow, mad, madman,
make, make believe, mark, maudlin, meddle with, merry-andrew,
mess around, middlebrow, mislead, mockery, monkey, monkey around,
monkey with, mooncalf, moron, moronic, motley, motley fool, mug,
natural, nincompoop, ninny, ninnyhammer, nit, nitwit, no scholar,
numskull, nutty, oaf, patsy, pickle-herring, piddle, pigeon,
pinhead, play, play around, play the buffoon, play the fool,
play with, plaything, pluck, poop, potter, pretend, prize sap,
puddinghead, pushover, put one on, putter, rattlebrain, retard,
romp, sap, saphead, sappy, scatterbrain, schlemiel, schmuck,
screwy, senseless, sentimental, silly, simple, simpleton,
sitting duck, smatter, snow, softhead, spoof, stock, stooge,
string along, stupid, sucker, swindle, take in, tamper,
tamper with, target, tease, tenderfoot, thoughtless, tinker,
tomfool, tool, toy, toy with, trick, trifle, trifle with,
trusting soul, twiddle, twist, twit, unintelligentsia, victim,
wacky, wanton, wet, witless, zany
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
fool n. As used by hackers, specifically describes a person who
habitually reasons from obviously or demonstrably incorrect premises and
cannot be persuaded by evidence to do otherwise; it is not generally
used in its other senses, i.e., to describe a person with a native
incapacity to reason correctly, or a clown. Indeed, in hackish
experience many fools are capable of reasoning all too effectively in
executing their errors. See also cretin, loser, fool file.
The Algol 68-R compiler used to initialize its storage to the
character string "F00LF00LF00LF00L..." because as a pointer or as a
floating point number it caused a crash, and as an integer or a
character string it was very recognizable in a dump. Sadly, one day a
very senior professor at Nottingham University wrote a program that
called him a fool. He proceeded to demonstrate the correctness of this
assertion by lobbying the university (not quite successfully) to forbid
the use of Algol on its computers. See also DEADBEEF.
Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001)
FOOL
Fool's Lisp. A small Scheme interpreter.
(ftp://scam.berkeley.edu/src/local/fools.tar.Z).
(1994-10-04)
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03)
FOOL, n. A person who pervades the domain of intellectual speculation
and diffuses himself through the channels of moral activity. He is
omnific, omniform, omnipercipient, omniscience, omnipotent. He it was
who invented letters, printing, the railroad, the steamboat, the
telegraph, the platitude and the circle of the sciences. He created
patriotism and taught the nations war -- founded theology, philosophy,
law, medicine and Chicago. He established monarchical and republican
government. He is from everlasting to everlasting -- such as
creation's dawn beheld he fooleth now. In the morning of time he sang
upon primitive hills, and in the noonday of existence headed the
procession of being. His grandmotherly hand was warmly tucked-in the
set sun of civilization, and in the twilight he prepares Man's evening
meal of milk-and-morality and turns down the covers of the universal
grave. And after the rest of us shall have retired for the night of
eternal oblivion he will sit up to write a history of human
civilization.
THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993)
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