1 dictionary results for: Fool's
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| fool
(fōōl) Pronunciation Key
n.
v. fooled, fool·ing, fools v. tr.
v. intr.
adj. Informal Foolish; stupid: off on some fool errand or other. Phrasal Verbs: fool around Informal
Phrasal Verb(s): fool around Informal
To waste (time or money) foolishly; squander: fooled away the week's pay on Friday night. Idiom(s): play/act the fool
[Middle English fol, from Old French, from Late Latin follis, windbag, fool, from Latin follis, bellows; see bhel-2 in Indo-European roots.] 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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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2008, Dictionary.com, LLC. All rights reserved.











