Whether the fool-killer be an individual or an instrument cannot always be gathered from the dark phraseology in which he or it is alluded to but the weight of authority would sanction the impersonal interpretation.įool is the eleventh novel by Christopher Moore, released on February 10, 2009. Fool-killer "imaginary personage invested with authority to put to death anybody notoriously guilty of great folly" is from 1851, American English.\n\n Fool killer, a great American myth imagined by editors, who feign that his or its services are greatly needed, and frequently alluded to as being "around" or "in town" when some special act of folly calls for castigation. Fool's ballocks is described in OED as "an old name" for the green-winged orchid. Foolosopher, a useful insult, is in a 1549 translation of Erasmus. Fool's paradise "illusory state of happiness" is from mid-15c. Feast of Fools (early 14c., from Medieval Latin festum stultorum) was the burlesque festival celebrated in some churches on New Year's Day in medieval times. \n\nThere is no foole to the olde foole \nTo make a fool of (someone) "cause to appear ridiculous" is from 1620s ( make fool "to deceive, make (someone) appear a fool" is from early 15c.). The French word probably also got into English via its borrowing in the Scandinavian languages of the vikings (Old Norse fol, Old Danish fool, fol).
Meaning "jester, court clown" in English is attested c.1300, though it is not always possible to tell whether the reference is to a professional entertainer counterfeiting mental weakness or an amusing lunatic, and the notion of the fool sage whose sayings are ironically wise is also in English from c.1300. \nAlso used in Middle English for "sinner, rascal, impious person" (late 13c.). 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.
One makes the "idiot" sense original, the other the "jester" sense.\n\nThe word has in mod.Eng. \nThe sense evolution probably is from Vulgar Latin use of follis in a sense of "windbag, empty-headed person." Compare also Sanskrit vatula- "insane," literally "windy, inflated with wind." But some sources suggest evolution from Latin folles "puffed cheeks" (of a buffoon), a secondary sense from plural of follis. ``I have played the fool, and have erredĮarly 13c., "silly, stupid, or ignorant person," from Old French fol "madman, insane person idiot rogue jester," also "blacksmith's bellows," also an adjective meaning "mad, insane" (12c., Modern French fou), from Medieval Latin follus (adj.) "foolish," from Latin follis "bellows, leather bag" (see follicle).\n To play the fool, to act the buffoon to act a foolish To make a fool of, to render ridiculous to outwit to ( thusa Cynapium) resembling parsley, but nauseous
Hence, any foolish pleasure or condition of vainįool's parsley (Bot.), an annual umbelliferous plant Limbo) popularly believed to be the region of vanity and See under April, Court,įool's cap, a cap or hood to which bells were usuallyĪttached, formerly worn by professional jesters.įool's errand, an unreasonable, silly, profitless adventureįool's gold, iron or copper pyrites, resembling gold inįool's paradise, a name applied to a limbo (see under their fool or jester?Īpril fool, Court fool, etc. One who counterfeits folly a professional jester orīuffoon a retainer formerly kept to make sport, dressedįantastically in motley, with ridiculous accouterments.Ĭan they think me. The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. (Script.) One who acts contrary to moral and religious Pursues a course contrary to the dictates of wisdom oneĮxtol not riches, then, the toil of fools.Įxperience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn One destitute of reason, or of the common powers ofĪ person deficient in intellect one who acts absurdly, or follis a bellows, wind bag, an inflatedīall perh.