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fool

noun
/fuːl/

Etymology

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

  1. derived from follis
  2. derived from fol
  3. inherited from fol

Definitions

  1. A person with poor judgment or little intelligence.

    • You were a fool to cross that busy road without looking.
    • The village fool threw his own shoes down the well.
    • Erasmus, [...] saide wiselie that experience is the common scholehouse of foles, and ill men: Men of witte and honestie, be otherwise instructed.

  2. A jester

    A jester; a person whose role was to entertain a sovereign and the court (or lower personages).

  3. A stock character typified by unintelligence, naïveté or lucklessness, usually as a form…

    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.

  4. ›+ 12 more definitions

    1. Someone who has been made a fool of or tricked

      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.’

    2. Someone who derives pleasure from something specified.

      • Can they think me […] their fool or jester?
      • I'm a fool for the city.

    3. An informal greeting akin to buddy, dude, or man.

      • 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? […]”
      • “What up, fool?” he finally responded. “Not too much; fell asleep watching your boys get their asses kicked,” I told him, referring to the Carolina Cougars, the last team he played for before he got sick.
      • Fame leaves out the house and walks to the BP gas station on Alabama Avenue. On the way there he sees his man Mark posted up at the rec center and walks over to holla at him. “What’s up fool?” Mark says while dapping Fame up.

    4. A particular card in a tarot deck, representing a jester.

    5. A tankie.

    6. To trick

      To trick; to deceive.

      • 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.
      • There appears to be no process of gradually fooling oneself while degrading standards so characteristic of the Solid Rocket Booster or Space Shuttle Main Engine safety systems.
      • Liara: Do not be fooled by these civilized surroundings. This is a place of secrets and lies.

    7. To act in an idiotic manner

      To act in an idiotic manner; to act foolishly.

      • 1681/1682, John Dryden, The Spanish Fryar Is this a time for fooling?
      • She's always complaining that she got stuck with the worst possible committee. And that me and Jimmy fool more than we work.

    8. To make a fool of

      To make a fool of; to make act the fool.

      • They fool me to the top of my bent.

    9. Foolish.

      • Of all the fool, fruitless jobs, making anything of a creature that begins by deceiving her, is the foolest a sane woman ever undertook.
      • That was a fool thing to do. You could have gotten yourself shot

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

      • an apricot fool; a gooseberry fool

    11. A surname.

    12. Alternative letter-case form of fool (“a particular card in a tarot deck, representing a…

      Alternative letter-case form of fool (“a particular card in a tarot deck, representing a jester”).

The neighborhood

Derived

act a fool, act the fool, a fool and his money are soon parted, April-fool, April fool, April Fools' Day, archfool, audiophool, cut the fool, damnfool, fat as a fool, flannelled fool, fool away, fooldom, foolery, fooless, foolfish, fool for Christ, fool-hearted, fool-heartedly, fool-heartedness, foolhood, foolify, fooligan, foolish, fool killer, foollike, foolocracy, foolometer, foolosophy, foolproof, fool rack, fool-saint, fool's cap, fool's crutch, fool's errand, fool's fool, fool's gold, foolship, fool's mushroom · +21 more

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at fool. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01fool02relief03stress04agent05business06establishment07fixed08unmovable09incapable10imbecile

A definitional loop anchored at fool. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

10 hops · closes at fool

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA