fool

noun

1. 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.

   No man is always a fool, every man is sometimes.

2. 2

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

   1896, Frederick Peterson IN Popular Science Monthly Volume 50 December 1896 , Idiots Savants This court fool could say bright things on occasion, but his main use to the ladies and lords of the palace was to serve as victim to practical jokes, cruel, coarse, and vulgar enough to be appreciated perhaps in the Bowery.

3. 3

   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. 4

   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.’

5. 5

   informalSomeone who derives pleasure from something specified.

   Can they think me […] their fool or jester?

   I'm a fool for the city.

6. 6

   slangAn 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.

   “What up fool?” Lil Slim said noticing the seriousness in Lil Kilo’s voice. “You ain’t switched up on us have you.” Lil Fresh looked at Lil Kilo like where that come from. “Nigga I’ll neva switch up.” Lil Slim said feeling a little offended.

7. 7

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

verb

1. 1

   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.

2. 2

   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.

3. 3

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

   They fool me to the top of my bent.

adjective

1. 1

   informalFoolish.

   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

noun

1. 1

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

   an apricot fool; a gooseberry fool

   Eton is renowned for its "messes," and "strawberry mess" is Empress of them all, with raspberry mess as a very good second. It does not at all convey the joys of a "mess" to say that it consists of iced fruit and cream, and somewhat resembles a "fool." It is a thing apart, and should be approached with bated breath and unimpaired capacity.

   Pellaprat [...] invented the dish [of Eton mess] when a load of over-ripe strawberries needed eating up. His disguise was a fluff of whipped cream and the fool was served with sponge fingers. Somewhere along the line, someone else had the idea of stirring chunks of meringue into the fool at the last moment.

Forms

plural

fools

comparative

fooler, more fool

superlative

foolest, most fool

past tense

fooled

past participle

fooled

present participle

fooling

third person singular

fools