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t; an inconsiderate or thoughtless procedure; weak or light-minded conduct; foolery. What folly 'tis to hazard life for ill. Shak.

aid of laws, customs, institutions, governments, etc.; as, to abolish slavery, to abolish folly.

Knowing; conscious; cognizant. [R.] A man that has spent his younger years in vanity and folly, and is, by the grace of God, apprehensive of it. Jer. Taylor.

The goddess of mischievous folly; also, in later poets, the goddess of vengeance.

; to come near to; to verge. Wit which borders upon profaneness deserves to be branded as folly. Abp. Tillotson.

To work in oppositeion to; to counteract. That counterworksh folly and caprice. Pope.

rtune; that which brings evil or severe affliction; torment. The common curse of mankind, folly and ignorance. Shak. All that I eat, or drink, or shall beget, Is propagated curse. Milton. The curse of Scotland (Card Playing), the nine of diamonds. -- Not worth a curse. See under Cress.

ne with a dash of water; red with a dash of purple. Innocence when it has in it a dash of folly. Addison.

Insanity; folly. [Obs.] What tediosity and disensanity Is here among! Beau. & Fl.

youth. "Public diversions." V. Knox. Such productions of wit and humor as expose vice and folly, furnish useful diversion to readers. Addison.

ese were great; Thou, greater still, must these excel. Prior. I saw that wisdom excelleth folly, as far as light excelleth darkness. Eccl. ii. 13.

ent; greatest; highest; immoderate; excessive; most violent; as, an extreme case; extreme folly. "The extremest remedy." Dryden. "Extreme rapidity." Sir W. Scott. Yet extreme gusts will blow out fire. Shak.

Lofty elevation and excursion;a mounting; a soaas, a flight of imagination, ambition, folly. Could he have kept his spirit to that flight, He had been happy. Byron. His highest flights were indeed far below those of Taylor. Macaulay.

Full of folly. [Obs.]

Trifling; valued by folly; trivial. [Obs.] Shak.

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 bell…

The practice of folly; the behavior of a fool; absurdity. Folly in fools bears not so strong a note, As foolery in the wise, when wit doth dote. Shak.

Marked with, or exhibiting, folly; void of understanding; weak in intellect; without judgment or discretion; silly; unwise. I am a very foolish fond old man. Shak.

The behavior, dress, or other indication of a fop; coxcombry; affectation of show; showy folly.

ation; to resign. To them that list the world's gay shows I leave, And to great ones such folly do forgive. Spenser.