| 释义 |
▪ I. fool, n.1 and a.|fuːl|
Forms: 3–4 fol, (3 folle), 3–6 fole, (4 foyl), 4–6 foule(e, (4 fowle), 4–7 foole, (6 foolle), 4–9 Sc. fule, 5–6 full(e, 5–7 Sc. fuil(l, -yll, (5 fwle), 4– fool.
[ME. fōl n. and adj., ad. OF. fol n. and adj. (mod.F. fou n., insane person, madman, fou adj. masc., before vowel fol, fem. folle), corresponding to Pr. fol, folh, It. folle:—L. follem, follis, lit. ‘bellows,’ but in late popular Lat. employed in the sense of ‘windbag,’ empty-headed person, fool.]
A. n.
I.
1. a. One deficient in judgement or sense, one who acts or behaves stupidly, a silly person, a simpleton. (In Biblical use applied to vicious or impious persons.)
The word has in mod.Eng. a much stronger sense than it had at an earlier period; it has now an implication of insulting contempt which does not in the same degree belong to any of its synonyms, or to the derivative foolish. Cf. F. sot.
c1275Lay. 1442 Cniþt þou art mochel fol. 1340Hampole Pr. Consc. 126 Elles es he a fole and noght wise. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. vi. xvii. (1495) 203 Telle a fole his defawte, and he shall hate the. 1481Caxton Godfrey xxv. 57 There ben more fooles than wysemen. a1550Christis Kirke Gr. xxii, For faintness tha forfochtin fulis Fell doun lyk flauchtir fails. 1612Dekker If it be not good, Prol., Fooles by lucky Throwing, oft win the Game. 1709Pope Ess. Crit. 625 For Fools rush in where Angels fear to tread. 1773Mrs. Chapone Improv. Mind (1774) II. 111 Unless you improve your mind..you will be an insignificant fool in old age. 1816Scott Antiq. xliii, ‘Mony a wise man sits in a fule's seat, and mony a fule in a wise man's, especially in families o' distinction.’ 1881Besant & Rice Chapl. Fleet I. 144 No doubt, there have been fools before.
b. Phrase. to be a fool to: to be every way inferior to, to be as nothing compared to.
1596Shakes. Tam. Shr. iii. ii. 159 Tut, she's a Lambe, a Doue, a foole to him. 1791‘G. Gambado’ Ann. Horsem. xvii. (1809) 137 Childers would have been a fool to him. 1885Rider Haggard K. Solomon's Mines 79 The Black Hole of Calcutta must have been a fool to it.
†c. Used as a term of endearment or pity. Obs.
c1530Beaut. Women in Hazl. Dodsley I. 71 How say ye now by this, little young fool? a1586Sidney Astrophel & Stella lxxiii, O heau'nly foole, thy most kisse-worthy face [etc.]. 1611Shakes. Wint. T. ii. i. 118 Doe not weepe (goode Fooles) There is no cause.
d. In various proverbial expressions.
c1400Rom. Rose 5266 A fooles belle is soone runge. 1539Taverner Erasm. Prov. (1552) 4 A foles bolt is soone shotte. 1546J. Heywood Prov. (1867) 46 There is no foole to the olde foole. 1563B. Googe Epit. N. Grimaold Eglogs, etc. (Arb.) 74 But Fortune fa[u]ours Fooles as old men saye. 1606Holland Sueton. Annot. 16 A foole or a physition. c1645Howell Lett. I. v. xxxix, A fool and his money is soon parted. 1670Ray Prov. 91 Fools build houses, and wise men buy them. 1721Kelly Sc. Prov. 101 Every Man at thirty is a Fool or a Physician.
2. a. One who professionally counterfeits folly for the entertainment of others, a jester, clown.
The ‘fool’ in great households was often actually a harmless lunatic or a person of weak intellect, so that this sense and sense 4 are often hard to distinguish.
1370Robert Cicyle in Nugæ Poet. (1844) 54 Lyke a fole and a fole to bee, Thy babulle schalle be thy dygnyte! c1440Ipomydon 1643 He semyd a fole..Bothe by hede and by atyre. 1532Privy Purse Exp. Hen. VIII, 205 For making of gere for the kinges fole xxx s. 1609Dekker Gulls Horne-bk. Proem, Wks. (Grosart) II. 205 He may be..his crafty foole, or his bawdy Jester. 1651Brome Joviall Crew v. Wks. 1873 I. 451 To beg the next Fool-Royal's place that falls. 1691Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) II. 311 Mr. Graham, the fool in King James time. 1847L. Hunt Jar Honey vi. (1848) 75 He had all the humiliations..of the cap and bells, and was the dullest fool ever heard of.
b. to play the fool: to act the part of a fool or jester; hence gen. to act like a fool (sense 1).
c1532G. Du Wes Introd. Fr. in Palsgr. 939 To plee the fole, baguenauder. 1579Fulke Heskins' Parl. 295 He playeth the foole with that bable. 1659–60Pepys Diary 28 Feb., I staid up a little while, playing the fool with the lass of the house. 1722De Foe Relig. Courtsh. i. i, I advise you not to play the fool with me any longer. 1847James J. Marston Hall viii, The parliament was playing the fool in Paris.
c. Feast of Fools [= med.L. festum stultorum]: properly the burlesque festival which in the Middle Ages was sometimes celebrated in churches on New Year's Day; hence in various allusive uses.
c1320Seuyn Sag. (W.) 2748 Sire, hastou owt herde the geste, Whi men made folen feste? 1609Dekker Gulls Horne-bk. Proem. Wks. (Grosart) II. 209 To the intent I may aptly furnish this feast of Fooles.
3. One who is made to appear a fool; one who is imposed on by others; a dupe. Now somewhat arch., exc. in phrases to make a fool of (formerly also † to put the fool on), to dupe, befool; to be a fool for one's pains, to have one's labour for nothing.
c1440Jacob's Well 81 A nunne, þat..made here as a fool, and obeyid here to alle here sustren as here fool. 1579Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 89 Bicause I was content to be his Friend, thought he me meete to be made his Foole. 1592Shakes. Rom. & Jul. iii. i. 141, I am Fortunes foole. 1625Cooke Pope Joan in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) IV. 28 The dean made a fool of the alderman. a1684Leighton Comm. 1 Peter i. 3 Worldly hopes..put the fool upon a man. 1715De Foe Fam. Instruct. i. iv, I won't be made a fool of. 1850Tennyson In Mem. iv, Thou shalt not be the fool of loss. Mod. He is the fool of circumstances.
†4. One who is deficient in, or destitute of reason or intellect; a weak-minded or idiotic person. Obs. exc. in natural fool or born fool, a born idiot (now rare exc. as a mere term of abuse). to beg (a person) for a fool: see beg 5 a.
1540Act 32 Hen. VIII, c. 46 Ideottes and fooles naturall. 1566Nashe Saffron Walden C iv b, Fooles..(especiallie if they bee naturall fooles) are suted in long coates. 1601Shakes. All's Well iv. iii. 213 He was whipt for getting the Shrieues fool with childe, a dumbe innocent that could not say him nay. 1609Skene Reg. Maj. 37 The warde and custodie of lands and tenements perteining to naturall fuilis, be the law sould perteine to the King. 1670R. Lassels Voy. Italy ii. 212 The Pazzorella, where they keep madmen and fooles. 1708Ockley Saracens (Bohn 1848) 326 Towards the latter end of his days, he did really turn fool. 1824R. Crabb Tales 142 He became well in his health; but he remained quite a fool for the rest of his life!
II. In combinations.
5. General combinations;
a. simple attributive, as fool-cunningness, fool-trap, fool-work.
a1834Coleridge Lit. Rem. III. 198 This conceit..was just suited to James's *fool-cunningness.
1691Dryden K. Arthur Prol. 27 Bets at the first were *fool-traps.
1883W. Rein Life Luther xxii. 178 Hoods and tonsure, eating and drinking, and similar *fool-work.
b. appositive, as fool-dancer, fool-fury, fool-gallant.
1887D. C. Murray & Herman One Trav. Returns vii. 100 A *fool-dancer, in his ochre-smeared kilt and head⁓dress..sprang and contorted for a reward.
1850Tennyson In Mem. cxxv, Ev'n tho' thrice again The red *fool-fury of the Seine Should pile her barricades with dead.
1714Pope Wife Bath 95 Or else her wit some *fool-gallant procures.
c. objective, as fool-catcher, fool-doctor, fool-taker; fool-frighting adj.
1594Nashe Vnfort. Trav. Wks. (Grosart) V. 39 They..in fine left mee and my fellowes (their *foole-catchers) Lords of the field. a1624Breton Figure Foure (Grosart) 5/2 A Foole-catcher, and a Cony-catcher.
1760Jortin Erasm. II. 170 None are greater Fools than they, who set up for *Fool-Doctors.
a1720Sheffield (Dk. Buckhm.) Wks. (1753) I. 177 Fiery meteors, and *fool-frighting ghosts.
c1600Nashe (Grosart), *Foole-taker.
d. instrumental and originative, as fool-born, fool-frequented, fool-renowned adjs.
1597Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, v. v. 59 Reply not to me, with a *Foole-borne Iest.
1780Cowper Table-t. 756 The *fool-frequented fair of vanity.
1742Pope Dunc. iv. 371 Mummius *Fool-renown'd.
e. similative, as fool-bold, fool-fat, fool-fine, fool-heady, fool-holy adjs.; fool-like, fool-wisely advs. (Some of these imitate foolhardy, and may perhaps better be referred to the adj.)
1549Leland Itin. F iij b, Some in corners hath bene *folebolde.
1613Chapman Revenge Bussy D'Ambois Plays 1873 II. 113 Men thither come to laugh and feede *fool-fat. 1593–4Sylvester Profit Imprisonm. 638 Depending oft on his foole-fat-feeding word.
1603H. Crosse Vertues Commw. (1878) 64 To know the price of Sattin and Veluet, and toies to make him *fool-fine.
1611Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. vi. i. §5. 184 Begging pardon for his *foole-heady forwardnesse.
1592Greene Groatsw. Wit B iij, So *foole holy as to make scruple of conscience where profit presents itselfe.
1842Whitehead R. Savage (1845) II. viii. 286 *Foole-like, I forgot myself.
1605Camden Rem. (1637) 84 But *foole-wisely have some Peters, called themselves Pierius. 1611W. Sclater Key (1629) 111 Some of them resoluing, foole wisely, that images are to be worshipped.
6. Special comb, as fool-bane, poison for fools; fool-begged a., ? foolish, idiotic (cf. beg 5 a); fool-duck (U.S.), the ruddy duck, Erismatura rubida; † fool-fangle, a silly trifle; † fool-finder, slang (see quot.); fool-fish (U.S.) a poplar name for certain fishes (see quots.); † fool-happy a., lucky without judgement or contrivance; fool-hen (U.S.), see quot.; fool-plough (see quot. 1777); † fool- or fool's-rack, ‘a..pernicious spirit, in which..the stinging sea-blubber was mixed’ (Yule); † fool-taken a., ‘taken in’ like fools; † fool-taking vbl. n., a method of cozening.
1679Dryden Troilus & Cr. Epil. 10 'Twere worth our cost to scatter *fool-bane here.
1590Shakes. Com. Err. ii. i. 41 This *foole-beg'd patience in thee will be left.
1647Ward Simpl. Cobler 30 Ape-headed pullets, which invent Antique *foole-fangles, meerly for fashion..sake.
1796Grose Dict. Vulg. Tongue (ed. 3), *Fool finder, a bailiff.
1842J. E. De Kay Nat. Hist. New York iv. 335 Our fishermen apply to it [Monocanthus broccus] the whimsical name of *Fool-fish, in allusion to..its absurd mode of swimming. 1888Riverside Nat. Hist. III. 279 The Pleuronectes glaber, which is called fool-fish at Salem, because they are easily decoyed.
1590Spenser F.Q. i. vi. 1 His *foolhappie over⁓sight.
1885T. Roosevelt Hunting Trips iii. 90 In the early part of the season the young [grouse], and indeed their parents also, are tame and unsuspicious to the very verge of stupidity, and..are often known by the name of *‘fool-hens’.
1777Brand Pop. Antiq. xiv. 175 The *Fool Plough goes about, a Pageant that consists of a Number of Sword Dancers, dragging a Plough with Music [etc.].
1698Fryer Acc. E. Ind. & P. i. 68 *Fool Rack, Brandy made of Blubber or Carvil, by the Portugals.
1608Dekker Belman Lond. H iv b, *Foole-taking..is done seuerall wayes [described at length].
Ibid., *Foole-taken.
7. Comb. with genitive fool's:
a. obvious combinations (sense 2), as fool's ba(u)ble, fool-colours, fool-staff. Also in phr. † to come home by Fool's acre.
1603H. Crosse Vertues Commw. (1878) 63 They..come home by Need-ham crosse, and *fooles acre.
1578Lyte Dodoens iii. lxxix. 428 Fashioned like a *fooles bable.
1728Pope Dunc. i. 84 And with her own *fools-colours gilds them all.
1692Washington tr. Milton's Def. Pop. Pref. (1851) 17 You..deserve to have your Bones well-thrash'd with a *Fool's staff.
b. Special comb., as fool's crochet (see quot.); fool's errand: see errand 2 c; † fool's fire, a will o'-the-wisp, Ignis fatuus; fool's gold, iron pyrites; fool's haste, foolish precipitation; fool's-head, a head void of sense or intelligence; also, a foolish person; (cf. sheep's-head); fool's hood, the hood worn by a fool or jester; also, a hood resembling this, worn in the seventeenth century; fool's mate (Chess): see mate. Also foolscap, fool's-coat, fool's paradise.
1882Caulfeild & Saward Dict. Needlework, *Fool's Crochet, a name sometimes given to Tricot.
1631Widdowes Nat. Philos. (ed. 2) 16 Fiery Dragons, darke streames, *fooles fire, and such like fiery Meteors.
1882Boston Jrnl. Chem. Feb. 16/3 *‘Fool's gold’.
1827Scott Jrnl. 12 Jan., I wish it may not prove *fool's haste, yet I take as much pains too as is in my nature.
1577Breton Floorish vpon Fancie, etc. (Grosart) 24/2 In the ende..Shee makes him see a *Fooles head of his owne. 1598Shakes. Merry W. i. iii. 134. 1650 R. Stapylton Strada's Low C. Warres iv. 78 The Low-countrey Lords were not fools-heads.
1597Gerarde Herbal i. xcix. 159 In shape like to a *fooles hood or cocks-combe wide open. 1647R. Stapylton Juvenal viii. 191 When nightly, thy adulterous blood Conceales it's blushes in a French fooles-hood.
c. esp. in plant-names, as † fool's ballocks, an old name for Orchis Morio; fool's cicely = fool's parsley; fool's (water) cress (see quot. 1878); fool's parsley, a poisonous weed, the Lesser Hemlock (æthusa Cynapium); hence, a book-name of the genus æthusa; † fool's stones, an old name for Orchis Morio and O. mascula.
1578Lyte Dodoens ii. lvi. 222 This second kinde [of Orchis] is called..in English..*Fooles Balloxe.
1796Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) II. 305 æthusa Cynapium..*Fool's Cicely, Lesser Hemlock.
1861Mrs. Lankester Wild Flowers 31 The *Fool's-Cress, as it is called (Sium nodiflorum). 1878Britten & Holland Plant-n., Fool's Water Cress, Helosciadium nodiflorum..Because those who are ignorant or unobservant may mistake it for water cress.
1755Gentl. Mag. XXV. 69 The lesser Hemlock, or *Fool's Parsley. 1816–20Green Univ. Herbal I. 64 æthusa Fatua, Fine-leaved Fool's Parsley.
1597Gerarde Herbal i. xcix. §5. 159 The male *Foole stones hath fiue..long, broad and smooth leaues. Ibid. The female Fooles stones hath also smooth narrow leaues.
B. adj. Foolish, silly. Now colloq. (freq. in U.S.).
By the late 19th cent. this use was obs. in the U.K., exc. Sc. and dial. and vulgar (the vulgar use being prob. a new formation from the n.).
a1225Ancr. R. 54 Þe holi Gost lette writen one boc uor to warnie wummen of hore fol eien. a1240Ureisun in Cott. Hom. 200 Me nis he fol chepmon, ðet buð deore a woc þing? 1297R. Glouc. (1724) 568 Þis lokinge was riȝt fol in such destresse iwis. c1314Guy Warw. (A.) 380. 10 Ich wene þou art a fole musard! c1400Destr. Troy 13841 Hit fell hym by fortune of a foole end. c1450Mirour Saluacioun 271 The wise virgines yt oele vnto the fole maydens denyed. 1481Caxton Tulle of Old Age, Olde age is grevous..to the fole old man. 1541R. Copland Galyen's Terap. 2 D j, O foole and imprudent Thessalus. 1580R. Harvey Pl. Perc. (1590) 22 Let the wisest be the forwardest, and the most foole the frowardest. 1681S. Colvil Whigs Supplic. (1751) 130 Fighting is a fool thing. a1776Song in Herd Collect. II. 192 The fool-thing is oblig'd to fast Or eat what they've refus'd. 1805L. Dow Jrnl. (1806) II. i. 76, I showed the contrast of a gentleman and a fool deist. 1815Scott Guy M. xxxix, ‘They couldna hae sell'd the auld inheritance for that fool-body's debts.’ 1823Galt Entail II. iii. 22 A fool posture..and no very commodious at this time. 1854M. J. Holmes Tempest & Sunshine ii. 25 Tempest..can hardly wait till I'm dead before she spends my money on fool fixins. 1862S. Hale Lett. (1919) 13 Everybody talking such fool nonsense as sometimes almost to prevent digestion. 1896M. Corelli Mighty Atom xvi. 335 My fool tears a-flowin' on her coffin. 1902W. N. Harben Abner Daniel 2 Oh, Alan, don't you see he's goin' to ruin us with his fool notions? 1912R. A. Wason Friar Tuck xxiii. 165 It was the foolest lookin' group I was ever part of. 1924W. M. Raine Troubled Waters xxiii. 245 You've heard that fool story about Norma and Mac. 1932E. Wilson Devil take the Hindmost ix. 104 The local banks have failed through the speculations of some fool gambler. 1951‘J. Wyndham’ Day of Triffids iv. 85 You never can tell what fool carelessness may go on.
▪ II. fool, n.2|fuːl|
[prob. a use of prec., suggested by the synonym trifle, mentioned in quot. 1598. (So Skeat in Phil. Soc. Trans. 1885–7).
Mahn's derivation from F. fouler to crush, is not only baseless, but inconsistent with the early use of the word.]
†1. (See quots.). Obs.
1598Florio, Mantiglia, a kinde of clouted creame called a foole or a trifle in English. c1600Day Begg. Bednall Gr. v. (Bullen) 114 My Mother..could have taught thee how to a made..fritters, pancakes, I and the rarest fools. 1637B. Jonson Sad Sheph. i. vi, Your cheese-cakes, curdes, and clowted creame, Your fooles, your flaunes. 1688R. Holme Armoury iii. iii. 82 Foole is a kind of Custard, but more crudelly; being made of Cream, Yolks of Eggs, Cinamon, Mace boiled: and served on Sippets with sliced Dates, Sugar, and white and red Comfits, strawed thereon.
2. A dish composed of fruit stewed, crushed, and mixed with milk, cream, or custard. Often gooseberry fool.
1747H. Glasse Art of Cookery ix. 79 A Gooseberry-Fool. a1845Hood Hymen Retrospect. i. ii, Just like gooseberries boil'd for a fool!
▪ III. fool, v.|fuːl|
Forms: see the n.
[f. fool a. or n.1 Cf. OF. folier, foleiier: see foleye.]
†1. intr. To be or become foolish or insane.
13..E.E. Allit. P. B. 1422 So faste þay weȝed to hym wyne, wel neȝe he foles. 1489Barbour's Bruce (Edin. MS.) iv. 222 Bot he fulyt [the better text has was fule], forowtyn weir That gaiff throuth till that creatur.
2. To act like a fool.
a. To act as a foolish or weak-minded person; to play the fool, trifle, idle. Also to fool about, or on, and to fool it. † to fool into: to be brought into by one's folly. to fool along (U.S.): to proceed slowly or aimlessly; also fig. to fool (a)round (U.S.): to ‘hang about’ aimlessly. to fool with: to play or meddle with foolishly; also in indirect passive.
1593Shakes. Rich. II, v. v. 60 While I stand fooling heere. 1608― Cor. ii. iii. 128 Rather then foole it so, Let the high Office and the Honor go. a1621Beaum. & Fl. Cust. Country v. v, Must I needs fool into mine own destruction? 1676Wycherley Pl. Dealer iv. i, My heart is too much in earnest to be fooled with. 1685J. Scott Chr. Life ii. 134 [He] So fools and fleers on till he hath toyed and laughed himself out of all sense of Religion. 1754Richardson Grandison IV. xxxiii. 228 How you..fooled on with us, before you came to confession! 1810Sporting Mag. XXXVI. 269, I do not think this man was taken to the watch-house because he was fooling. 1826Scott Woodst. v, Zoons, Mark Everard, I can fool it no longer. 1837A. Greene Glance at New York (Farmer), He mustn't come foolin' round my gal, or I'll give him fits. 1861Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. xii. (1889) 112 You and I, perhaps, go fooling about with him, and get rusticated. 1866C. H. Smith Bill Arp 44 You get a government contract for a few thousand pounds and you fool along with it, selling what you make to these drug men at a bigger price. 1870Galaxy May 726/2 What did Abel come fooling around there for? 1884Manch. Exam. 28 June 4/6 The accused..began fooling with a loaded gun. 1884‘Mark Twain’ Huck. Finn xxxiii. 338 You turn back and fool along slow, so as to get to the house about the time you ought to. 1885Century Mag. XXIX. 545/1 They [the pursuers] seemed to stop and fool around awhile. 1934H. Vines This Green Thicket World 20 They fooled along and did not much try to reach the ferry⁓man's house.
†b. To act as a fool or jester; to play the buffoon. Also with up. Obs.
1617Fletcher Mad Lover v. iv, Foole up, sirra, You may chance get a dinner. 1633Fletcher & Shirley Night Walker v. iii, I'le foole vp and provoke ye [to be merry]. 1641Denham Sophy iv. (1667) 50 If you have the luck to be Court-fools, those that have Either wit or honesty, you may fool withal, and spare not.
c. quasi-trans. with compl. phrase.
1601Shakes. Twel. N. v. i. 44 You can foole no more money out of mee at this throw.
3. a. trans. To make a fool of; to impose upon, dupe, trifle with. Also, to balk, frustrate.
1596Shakes. 1 Hen IV, i. iii. 178 That you are fool'd, dis⁓carded, and shook off By him, for whom these shames ye underwent. 1606― Ant. & Cl. v. ii. 225 Why that's the way to foole their preparation. 1663Cowley Occas. Verses, Ode on Ld. Broghill's Verses 2 Be gon..Ingrateful Muse, and see What others thou can'st fool as well as me. 1706Estcourt Fair Examp. iv. i, This Gentleman..that has fool'd your Faith, wou'd betray your Honour. 1784Burns Epit. Henpeckd Sq., As father Adam first was fool'd. 1818Byron Ch. Har. iv. clviii, This Outshining and o'erwhelming edifice Fools our fond gaze. 1867Trollope Chron. Barset xxxviii, [He] ought not to have been fooled by such a woman.
b. To cheat of or delude out of (something); to entice, lure into or to; to put or fob off by trickery.
1650Trapp Comm. Gen. xxi. 1 He fools them not off with fair promises. 1663J. Spencer Vulg. Prophecies (1665) 28 An impatience of the ignorance of things to come, fooled the Jews..out of their Reason. 1664H. More Myst. Iniq. 456 But so manifest Eviction..will not be fooled off for ever. 1678Marvell Growth Popery 28 The Additional Excise..which the Tripple League had fooled them into. c1680J. Haines Epil. in Collect. Poems 34 They all fool Cit of his Wife. a1716South Serm. (1737) IV. iv. 140 Such as come to be thus happily frighted into their wits, are not so easily fooled out of them again. 1833H. Blunt Lect. Hist. St. Paul II. 200 It fools you into the belief that [etc.]. 1841–4Emerson Ess., Politics Wks. (Bohn) I. 237 Nature..will not be fooled or abated of any jot of her authority. 1863Mrs. C. Clarke Shaks. Char. vi. 144 The English have never yet been fooled to their ruin.
†4. To make foolish; to infatuate. Obs.
1605Shakes. Lear ii. iv. 278 Foole me not so much To beare it tamely; touch me with noble anger. 1641Denham Sophy iii. (1667) 43 He's so fool'd with down-right honesty, He'l ne're believe it.
5. to fool away, † out (also simply): to throw away or part with foolishly; to spend (money, time) foolishly.
1548Detect. Unskilf. Physic. in Recorde Urin. Physick (1651) 4, I scarce beleeve any wise man would fool out a groat on your judgment. 1628Wither Brit. Rememb. iii. 406 Foole thy life away By tempting Heav'n. 1641Sir E. Dering Sp. on Relig. 22 Nov. xv. (1642) 69 Let no Ammonite perswade the Gileadite to foole out his right eye. 1660Pepys Diary 1 June, Where I..fooled away all the afternoon. 1711Swift Jrnl. to Stella 9 July, I have fooled away too much money that way already. 1728Young Love Fame ii. (1757) 91 What crime In such a paradise to fool their time? a1761Law Behmen's Myst. Magnum lvi. (1765) 329 We see here how Adam has fooled away, and lost the Blessing. 1863Mrs. C. Clarke Shaks. Char. xx. 507 He fools away his time, his money, and his health.
Hence fooled ppl. a.
1715tr. C'tess D'Aunoy's Wks. 391 This impious Grognon, by the fool'd Support Of a fond Prince, made Cruelty her Sport. 1742Young Nt. Th. v. 35 The fool'd mind.
Add:[3.] c. you could have fooled me: an expression of scepticism or contradiction. colloq. and mildly iron.
1972A. Ross London Assignment 70 ‘I'd say you were a very active man. Me, I'm more of the—er—passive type.’.. ‘You could have fooled me, ’ I told him solemnly. 1985P. Clothier Chiaroscuro xvii. 72 The students were reputed to be the pick of the crop. You could have fooled me. Barely a handful of them could draw.
▸ intr.to fool around (also round): to engage in casual, extramarital, or non-coital sexual activity. Freq. with with.
1923S. Anderson Horses & Men 52 It is better not to fool around with a young girl or with some other man's wife. 1935D. L. Sayers Gaudy Night vii. 147 There are much better ways of enjoying Oxford than fooling round..with the women students. 1978P. Grace Mutuwhenua (1988) iv. 16 You fool around with my girl and I'll boot your head. 1980Los Angeles Times 2 Nov. (Bk. Rev.) 12/3 He fools around on his wife. 2006Teen Vogue (Electronic ed.) May 152 Kids who don't have sex, who just fool around or whatever.
▪ IV. fool(e
obs. form of foal. |