
fool around Informal.
play (or act) the fool
[Middle English fol, from Old French, from Late Latin follis, windbag, fool, from Latin follis, bellows.]
WORD HISTORY The pejorative nature of the term fool is strengthened by a knowledge of its etymology. Its source, the Latin word follis, meant "a bag or sack, a large inflated ball, a pair of bellows." Users of the word in Late Latin, however, saw a resemblance between the bellows or the inflated ball and a person who was what we would call "a windbag" or "an airhead." The word, which passed into English by way of French, is first recorded in English in a work written around the beginning of the 13th century with the sense "a foolish, stupid, or ignorant person."
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England is the home of this old-fashioned dessert made of cooked, pure´ed fruit that is strained, chilled and folded into whipped cream. The fruit mixture may be sweetened or not. Fool is traditionally made from gooseberries, though any fruit may be substituted.
noun
verb
phrasal verb - fool around
phrasal verb - fool away
Idioms beginning with fool:
fool and his money are soon parted, a
fool away
fool's errand
fools rush in where angels fear to tread
See also make a fool of; nobody's fool; no fool like an old fool; not suffer fools gladly; play the fool; take for (a fool). Also see under foolish.
Definition: idiot; stupid or ridiculous person
Antonyms: brain, genius, savant, wise man
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.
Laughing at stupidity and craziness is a basic, universal form of humour, well represented in English tradition. The language is rich in inventive semi-proverbial phrases to express just how daft someone is, from the medieval jeer that he or she would ‘shoe a goose’ or ‘cut off the branch he's sitting on’ to the modern ‘he's a couple of sandwiches short of a picnic’; the nonsense world of nursery rhymes is full of jokes about silly or impossible acts and topsy-turvy situations. Visually, the theme can be recognized in medieval art and sculpture, where grotesque figures pulling faces and/or engaging in undignified or ludicrous actions were surely intended as fools.
Whole communities and ethnic groups have been labelled fools, and made the topic for cycles of jokes; older examples (often called ‘noodle’ or ‘numskull’ tales) relate to people from specified villages or rural districts, for example the Men of Gotham and the Wiltshire moonrakers, more recent ones to certain immigrant groups, especially the Irish. In some contexts, notably in schools and workplaces, custom allows practical jokes aimed at making people look foolish, and this is especially true on April Fools' Day.
Until fairly recent times it was socially acceptable to laugh at the behaviour of those born ‘simple-minded’, at the mad, and at freaks. From medieval times till the reign of Charles I, there are ample records of fools, jesters, and dwarfs at court and in wealthy households; some of the fools were undoubtedly ‘innocent’, i.e. half-witted, while others were skilled entertainers, with a repertoire of bawdy and/or slapstick humour and witty repartee lightly masked as ‘folly’,‘Jest books’, i.e. collections of stock anecdotes about the cleverness (or stupidity) of fools, circulated as popular literature. Some are sheer fiction, such as those about the legendary Marcolf who supposedly disputed with Solomon; others describe real people, such as Henry VII's fool Will Somer, and may contain accurate reminiscences alongside the inventions. As is well known, the professional fool-as-entertainer is also an important figure on the stage, from Elizabethan plays to modern circus clowns and cinema comedians.See Clouston, 1888; Welsford, 1935; Billington, 1984; Christie Davies, in Spoken in Jest, ed. Gillian Bennett (1991), 215-35; Malcolm Jones, Folklore
Courtly society in medieval Ireland, Scotland, and Wales included jesters, buffoons, and mimics for entertainment; as conventional figures in early narratives they often, like King Lear's Fool, speak more wisely than their masters. Lomna reports the adultery of Fionn mac Cumhaill's wife. Mac Glas, fool of Máel Fothartaig, is killed with his master. Do Dera tries to save his master, Lugaid mac Con, by impersonating him in battle. Irish distinguishes between the professional fool [Old Irish drúth] and the more modern person of poor judgement [Modern Irish amadán], although English does not. The Irish and Scottish Gaelic folk figure Amadán Mór [Big Fool] is heroic; see EACHTRA AN AMADÁIN MHÓIR [The Adventure of the Big Fool].
Bibliography
See B. Swain, Fools and Folly (1932); E. Welsford, The Fool (1936, repr. 1961); S. Billington, A Social History of the Fool (1984).
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 fool who thinks he is wise is just a fool. The fool who knows he is a fool is wise indeed.
— Buddha, Source: The Dhammapada
Tutor's tip: Only a "fool" (a stupid person or act) would start out on a road trip without making sure the gas tank is "full" (complete; entire) of "fuel." (something that creates energy, such as gasoline)
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Dansk (Danish)
1.
n. - fjols, idiot, nar
v. tr. - narre, snyde, løbe om hjørner med
v. intr. - pjatte, fjolle, lege
adj. - fjollet, tåbelig, idiotisk
idioms:
2.
n. - frugtmos i flødeskum
Nederlands (Dutch)
dwaas, nar, gek, soort dessert (vruchten/ custard etc.), bedotten, zich dwaas gedragen, spelen, de dwaas spelen, grapjes maken, verspillen
Français (French)
1.
n. - idiot, clown, bête, imbécile, pitre, (Hist) fou, bouffon
v. tr. - tromper, duper, amener qn à (faire), faire croire à (qn), se laisser abuser, faire marcher
v. intr. - plaisanter, se faire des illusions
adj. - idiot, stupide
idioms:
2.
n. - (GB, Culin) crème à la rhubarbe/aux fruits
Deutsch (German)
1.
n. - Dummkopf, Narr
v. - täuschen, betrügen, herumalbern
adj. - (colloq.Am) töricht, närrisch
idioms:
2.
n. - (Frucht)Creme, Obstmus
Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - ανόητος, κορόιδο, (ιστ.) γελωτοποιός, παλιάτσος
v. - εξαπατώ, κοροϊδεύω, αστειεύομαι, κάνω ανοησίες, κάνω το βλάκα
idioms:
Italiano (Italian)
ingannare, imbrogliare, sciocco, buffone
idioms:
Português (Portuguese)
n. - idiota (m)
v. - enganar, brincar (não falar sério)
idioms:
Русский (Russian)
иметь слабость, баловаться, дурак, шут, глупый
idioms:
Español (Spanish)
1.
n. - tonto, estúpido, imbécil, bufón
v. tr. - engañar, tomar el pelo, hacer creer, embaucar
v. intr. - bromear, tontear, pasar el tiempo en tonterías
adj. - tonto, estúpido, imbécil, bufón
idioms:
2.
n. - postre hecho con frutas y crema
Svenska (Swedish)
n. - dåre, narr, överdängare, kräm (mos)
v. - skoja med, bära sig åt som en stolle
中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
愚人, 奶油拌水果, 受骗者, 愚弄, 浪费, 欺骗, 干傻事, 游荡, 开玩笑, 傻的
idioms:
中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 愚人, 奶油拌水果, 受騙者
v. tr. - 愚弄, 浪費, 欺騙
v. intr. - 幹傻事, 遊蕩, 開玩笑
adj. - 傻的
idioms:
한국어 (Korean)
1.
n. - 바보, 얼간이, 광대
v. tr. - ~을 업신여기다
v. intr. - 어리석은 짓을 하다, 헤메다
adj. - 어리석은
idioms:
2.
n. - (요리의 일종) 과일과 크림 따위를 섞은 요리
日本語 (Japanese)
n. - ばか者, 道化師, ばか, 道化
v. - ばかにする, だます, だまして…させる, ばかなまねをする, ふざける
idioms:
العربيه (Arabic)
(الاسم) شخص أحمق (فعل) يخدع
עברית (Hebrew)
n. - טיפש, ליצן
v. tr. - רימה, שיטה
v. intr. - השתטה
adj. - טיפש
n. - ליפתן העשוי בד"כ פרי מבושל מעורבב בשמנת, רפרפת ביצים ועוד (בריטניה)
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