Folly

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Folly \Fol"ly\, n.; pl. {Follies}. [OE. folie, foli, F. folie,
     fr. fol, fou, foolish, mad. See {Fool}.]
     1. The state of being foolish; want of good sense; levity,
        weakness, or derangement of mind.
        [1913 Webster]
  


     2. A foolish act; an inconsiderate or thoughtless procedure;
        weak or light-minded conduct; foolery.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              What folly 'tis to hazard life for ill. --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. Scandalous crime; sin; specifically, as applied to a
        woman, wantonness.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              [Achan] wrought folly in Israel.      --Josh. vii.
                                                    15.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              When lovely woman stoops to folly.    --Goldsmith.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. The result of a foolish action or enterprise.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              It is called this man's or that man's "folly," and
              name of the foolish builder is thus kept alive for
              long after years.                     --Trench.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  folly
       n 1: the trait of acting stupidly or rashly [syn: {foolishness},
            {unwiseness}] [ant: {wisdom}]
       2: a stupid mistake [syn: {stupidity}, {betise}, {foolishness},
           {imbecility}]
       3: the quality of being rash and foolish [syn: {foolishness}, {craziness}]
       4: foolish or senseless behavior [syn: {foolery}, {tomfoolery},
           {craziness}, {lunacy}, {indulgence}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  73 Moby Thesaurus words for "folly":
     absurdity, absurdness, act of folly, asininity, battiness, blunder,
     brainlessness, buffoonery, clownishness, crackpottedness,
     crankiness, craziness, daffiness, daftness, desipience, dottiness,
     dumb trick, dumbness, eccentricity, error, fatuity, fatuousness,
     faux pas, fluff, foolery, foolheadedness, foolishness, frivolity,
     frivolousness, gaffe, giddiness, goof, goofiness, idiocy,
     imbecility, imprudence, inanity, indiscretion, ineptitude,
     insanity, irrationality, kookiness, lunacy, madness, mindlessness,
     mistake, niaiserie, nonsense, nugacity, nuttiness, obtuseness,
     preposterousness, queerness, rashness, sappiness, screwiness,
     senselessness, silliness, sottise, stolidity, stolidness,
     stupid thing, stupidity, thoughtlessness, triflingness, triviality,
     unwise step, wackiness, weak-mindedness, weirdness, witlessness,
     zaniness, zanyism
  
  

From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]:

  FOLLY, n.  That "gift and faculty divine" whose creative and
  controlling energy inspires Man's mind, guides his actions and adorns
  his life.
  
      Folly! although Erasmus praised thee once
          In a thick volume, and all authors known,
          If not thy glory yet thy power have shown,
      Deign to take homage from thy son who hunts
      Through all thy maze his brothers, fool and dunce,
          To mend their lives and to sustain his own,
          However feebly be his arrows thrown,
  
      Howe'er each hide the flying weapons blunts.
      All-Father Folly! be it mine to raise,
          With lusty lung, here on his western strand
          With all thine offspring thronged from every land,
      Thyself inspiring me, the song of praise.
      And if too weak, I'll hire, to help me bawl,
      Dick Watson Gilder, gravest of us all.
                                                       Aramis Loto Frope