Dictionary

befool en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /bɪˈfuːl/
• /bɪˈfʉl/ (Northern-Ireland, Scotland)

Etymology

From Middle English bifolen, equivalent to be- + fool.

Meanings

1. (archaic, transitive) To make a fool out of (someone); to fool, trick, or deceive (someone).
   • [T]hey ſettle upon their ovvn dregs, and grovv muddy and muſty vvith long eaſe, and their proſperity befooleth them to their ovvn deſtruction. 1637 July (date delivered), Robert Sanderson, “[Ad Aulam.] Sermon VI. Otelands, July 1637.”, in XXXIV Sermons. […], 5th edition, London: […] [A. Clark] for A. Seil, and are to be sold by G. Sawbridge, […], published 1671, →OCLC, paragraph 10, page 81:
   • But above all beware never to look the Fairy of the Dawn in the face, for she has eyes that will bewitch you, and glances that will befool you. 1901, Andrew Lang, “The Fairy of the Dawn”, in The Violet Fairy Book:
   • They alleged Dr Sidhu had no specialization in reducing weight and was only befooling innocent people. 2009 July 13, “BJP workers stage protest after leader dies in hospital”, in Times of India, retrieved 29 May 2013:
   • Nothing doth so befoole a man as extreme passion; this doth both make them fooles, which otherwise are not; and show them to be fooles that are so […] 1605, Joseph Hall, Meditations and Vowes, Diuine and Morall, London: John Porter, section 63:
   • "How can a woman live two thousand years? Why dost thou befool me, oh Queen?" 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:
   • Flattery is their nature—to coax, flatter and sweetly befool some one is every woman’s business. 1854, Arthur Pendennis [pseudonym; William Makepeace Thackeray], chapter XL, in The Newcomes: Memoirs of a Most Respectable Family, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], →OCLC:

Forms

Deriveds

unbefool · befoolment

Translations (8)

is blekkja (to fool, trick or deceive someone) · sw pumbaza (to fool, trick or deceive someone) · mi hangarau (to fool, trick or deceive someone) · is pretta (to fool, trick or deceive someone) · bg заблуждавам (to fool, trick or deceive someone) · is gabba (to fool, trick or deceive someone) · bg измамвам (to fool, trick or deceive someone) · is hafa að fífli (to fool, trick or deceive someone)