Fool

9 definitions found

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

  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.
     [1913 Webster]

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



  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.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     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.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Extol not riches, then, the toil of fools. --Milton.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn
              in no other.                          --Franklin.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. (Script.) One who acts contrary to moral and religious
        wisdom; a wicked person.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              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.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Can they think me . . . their fool or jester?
                                                    --Milton.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {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.
        [1913 Webster]

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

  Fool \Fool\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Fooled}; p. pr. & vb. n.
     {Fooling}.]
     To play the fool.
     [1913 Webster]
  
     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.
          [1913 Webster]

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

  Fool \Fool\, v. t.
     1. To infatuate; to make foolish. --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              For, fooled with hope, men favor the deceit.
                                                    --Dryden.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     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.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              You are fooled, discarded, and shook off
              By him for whom these shames ye underwent. --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {To fool away}, to get rid of foolishly; to spend in trifles,
        idleness, folly, or without advantage.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  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}]

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

  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
  
  

From Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001) [jargon]:

  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}.
  
  

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  FOOL
       
          Fool's Lisp.  A small {Scheme} {interpreter}.
       
          {(ftp://scam.berkeley.edu/src/local/fools.tar.Z)}.
       
          (1994-10-04)
       
       

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

  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.