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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Fool \Fool\, noun [Cf. F. fouler to tread, crush. Cf. 1st {Foil}.] A compound of gooseberries scalded and crushed, with cream; -- commonly called gooseberry fool.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Fool \Fool\, noun [OE. fol, noun & adjective, F. fol, fou, foolish, mad; a fool, prob. fr. L. follis a bellows, wind bag, an inflated ball; perh. akin to E. bellows. Cf. {Folly}, {Follicle}.]
1. One destitute of reason, or of the common powers of understanding; an idiot; a natural.
2. A person deficient in intellect; one who acts absurdly, or pursues a course contrary to the dictates of wisdom; one without judgment; a simpleton; a dolt.
Extol not riches, then, the toil of fools. --Milton.
Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other. --Franklin.
3. (Script.) One who acts contrary to moral and religious wisdom; a wicked person.
The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. --Ps. xiv. 1.
4. One who counterfeits folly; a professional jester or buffoon; a retainer formerly kept to make sport, dressed fantastically in motley, with ridiculous accouterments.
Can they think me . . . their fool or jester? --Milton.
{April fool}, {Court fool}, etc. See under {April}, {Court}, etc.
{Fool's cap}, a cap or hood to which bells were usually attached, formerly worn by professional jesters.
{Fool's errand}, an unreasonable, silly, profitless adventure or undertaking.
{Fool's gold}, iron or copper pyrites, resembling gold in color.
{Fool's paradise}, a name applied to a limbo (see under {Limbo}) popularly believed to be the region of vanity and nonsense. Hence, any foolish pleasure or condition of vain self-satistaction.
{Fool's parsley} (Bot.), an annual umbelliferous plant ({[AE]thusa Cynapium}) resembling parsley, but nauseous and poisonous.
{To make a fool of}, to render ridiculous; to outwit; to shame. [Colloq.]
{To play the fool}, to act the buffoon; to act a foolish part. ''I have played the fool, and have erred exceedingly.'' --1 Sam. xxvi. 21.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Fool \Fool\, verb (used without an object) [imp. & p. p. {Fooled}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Fooling}.] To play the fool; to trifle; to toy; to spend time in idle sport or mirth.
Is this a time for fooling? --Dryden.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Fool \Fool\, verb (used with an object)
1. To infatuate; to make foolish. --Shak.
For, fooled with hope, men favor the deceit. --Dryden.
2. To use as a fool; to deceive in a shameful or mortifying manner; to impose upon; to cheat by inspiring foolish confidence; as, to fool one out of his money.
You are fooled, discarded, and shook off By him for whom these shames ye underwent. --Shak.
{To fool away}, to get rid of foolishly; to spend in trifles, idleness, folly, or without advantage.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
fool
noun
1: a person who lacks good judgment [syn: {sap}, {saphead}, {muggins}, {tomfool}]
2: a person who is gullible and easy to take advantage of [syn: {chump}, {gull}, {mark}, {patsy}, {fall guy}, {sucker}, {soft touch}, {mug}]
3: a professional clown employed to entertain a king or nobleman in the middle ages [syn: {jester}, {motley fool}]
verb
1: make a fool or dupe of [syn: {gull}, {befool}]
2: spend frivolously and unwisely; "Fritter away one's inheritance" [syn: {fritter}, {frivol away}, {dissipate}, {shoot}, {fritter away}, {fool away}]
3: fool or hoax; "The immigrant was duped because he trusted everyone"; "You can't fool me!" [syn: {gull}, {dupe}, {slang}, {befool}, {cod}, {put on}, {take in}, {put one over}, {put one across}]
4: indulge in horseplay; "Enough horsing around--let's get back to work!"; "The bored children were fooling about" [syn: {horse around}, {arse around}, {fool around}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
291 Moby Thesaurus words for "fool": Columbine, Hanswurst, Harlequin, Pantalone, Pantaloon, Polichinelle, Pulcinella, Punch, Punchinello, Scaramouch, ament, apish, asinine, ass, babe, bamboozle, banter, batty, be foolish, be stupid, befool, befooled, beguiled, besotted, birdbrain, blockhead, bluff, bonehead, boob, booby, brainless, buffo, buffoon, buffoonish, busybody, butt, butt in, byword, byword of reproach, cavort, cheat, chouse, chucklehead, chump, cinch, clod, clodpate, clodpoll, clown, clown around, cockeyed, come-on, comedian, comedienne, comic, con, coquet, cozen, crazy, credulous, credulous person, cretin, cull, dabble, dabbler, daffy, daft, dally, dawdle, dazed, deceive, defraud, delude, derision, dilettante, dimwit, dizzy, dolt, donkey, doodle, dope, doting, droll, dumb, dumbbell, dummy, dunce, dupe, easy mark, easy pickings, entertainer, fair game, fake, fake out, fall guy, farceur, fatuitous, fatuous, featherbrain, featherhead, feign, fiddle, fiddle with, fiddle-faddle, fidget with, figure of fun, finger with, fish, flaky, fleece, flirt, fond, fool around, fool with, foolheaded, foolish, footle, fribble, frivol, frolic, fuddled, futile, gaga, gambol, game, gazingstock, get funny, git, go haywire, goat, gobe-mouches, goofy, goon, goose, greener, greenhorn, greeny, gudgeon, gull, gulled, half-wit, harlequin, hoax, hoodwink, horn in, horse around, humbug, idiot, idiotic, idle, ignoramus, illiterate, illiterati, imbecile, inane, inept, infatuated, innocent, insane, instrument, interfere, interlope, intermeddle, invite ridicule, jack-pudding, jackass, jay, jerk, jerk off, jest, jester, jestingstock, joke, joker, jokester, josh, kid, kid around, know-nothing, kooky, laughingstock, lead on, leadpipe cinch, loiter, loon, loony, loser, lowbrow, mad, madman, make, make believe, mark, maudlin, meddle with, merry-andrew, mess around, middlebrow, mislead, mockery, monkey, monkey around, monkey with, mooncalf, moron, moronic, motley, motley fool, mug, natural, nincompoop, ninny, ninnyhammer, nit, nitwit, no scholar, numskull, nutty, oaf, patsy, pickle-herring, piddle, pigeon, pinhead, play, play around, play the buffoon, play the fool, play with, plaything, pluck, poop, potter, pretend, prize sap, puddinghead, pushover, put one on, putter, rattlebrain, retard, romp, sap, saphead, sappy, scatterbrain, schlemiel, schmuck, screwy, senseless, sentimental, silly, simple, simpleton, sitting duck, smatter, snow, softhead, spoof, stock, stooge, string along, stupid, sucker, swindle, take in, tamper, tamper with, target, tease, tenderfoot, thoughtless, tinker, tomfool, tool, toy, toy with, trick, trifle, trifle with, trusting soul, twiddle, twist, twit, unintelligentsia, victim, wacky, wanton, wet, witless, zany
From Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001) [jargon]:
fool n. 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}.
From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:
FOOL Fool's Lisp. A small {Scheme} {interpreter}. {(ftp://scam.berkeley.edu/src/local/fools.tar.Z)}. (1994-10-04)
From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]:
FOOL, noun 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.
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