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The state of being foolish; want of good sense; levity, weakness, or derangement of mind.

A fool; an idiot. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Foolish; silly; simple; weak. [Archaic] Grant I may never prove so fond To trust man on his oath or bond. Shak.

A person or thing fondled or caressed; one treated with foolish or doting affection. Fondlings are in danger to be made fools. L'Estrange.

Foolishly. [Archaic] Verstegan (1673). Make him speak fondly like a frantic man. Shak.

The quality or state of being fond; foolishness. [Obs.] Fondness it were for any, being free, To covet fetters, though they golden be. Spenser.

Foolishly; fondly. [Obs.] Spenser.

A stupid or insignaficant fellow; a fool; a simpleton. [R.] Hudibras.

Folly; foolery. Let not the sound of shallow foppery enter My sober house. Shak.

of; to regard. Your oath once broke, you force not to forswear. Shak. I force not of such fooleries. Camden.

ip; to meet accidentally. [Scot.] Jamieson. Within that circle he forgathered with many a fool. Wilson.

To act in a trifling or foolish manner; to act frivolously. The fools that are fribbling round about you. Thackeray.

To make foolish by drink; to cause to become intoxicated. [Colloq.] I am too fuddled to take care to observe your orders. Steele.

A blockhead; a dolt; a fool. [Obs.] Burton.

Foolish and awkward; clumsy; clownish; as, gawky behavior. -- n. A fellow who is awkward from being overgrown, or from stupidity, a gawk.

of the verb; as, to get sober; to get awake; to get beaten; to get elected. To get rid of fools and scoundrels. Pope. His chariot wheels get hot by driving fast. Coleridge.

erized by inconstancy; unstable; changeable; fickle; wild; thoughtless; heedless. "Giddy, foolish hours." Rowe. "Giddy chance." Dryden. Young heads are giddy and young hearts are warm. Cowper.

ure; as, hearts of gold. Shak. Age of gold. See Golden age, under Golden. -- Dutch gold, Fool's gold, Gold dust, etc. See under Dutch, Dust, etc. -- Gold amalgam, a mineral, found in Columbia and California, composed of gold and mercury. -- Gold beater, one whose occupation is to beat gold into gold leaf. -- Gold b…

red; the nape, with part of the wings and tail, black; -- called also goldspink, goldie, fool's coat, drawbird, draw-water, thistle finch, and sweet William.

berries resembling gooseberries. -- Coromandel gooseberry. See Carambola. -- Gooseberry fool. See lst Fool. -- Gooseberry worm (Zoöl.), the larva of a small moth (Dakruma convolutella). It destroys the gooseberry by eating the interior.