Dictionary

foolery en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈfuːləɹi/

Etymology

From Middle English foleri, ffollery, equivalent to fool + -ery.

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) Foolish behaviour or speech.
   • A wantonneſſe in wealth, methinks I agree not with, / Tis ſuch a trouble to be married too, / And have a thouſand things of great importance, / Jewells and plates, and fooleries moleſt mee, / To have a mans brains whimſied with his wealth: […] 1624 (first performance), John Fletcher, Rule a Wife and Have a Wife. A Comoedy. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Leonard Lichfield […], published 1640, →OCLC, Act II, scene [ii], page 16:
   • Tradesmen and clerks, with fashionable novel-reading families, and circulating-library-subscribing daughters, get up small assemblies in humble imitation of Almack’s, and promenade the dingy ‘large room’ of some second-rate hotel with as much complacency as the enviable few who are privileged to exhibit their magnificence in that exclusive haunt of fashion and foolery. 1836, “Boz” [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], Sketches by “Boz,” Illustrative of Every-day Life, and Every-day People. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: John Macrone, […], →OCLC, chapter IX:
   • Foolery, sir, does walk about the orb like the sun, it shines every where. c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:
   • He […] hurried off to the Centre, took part in the solemn foolery of a 'discussion group' […] 1949 June 8, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter 2, in Nineteen Eighty-Four: A Novel, London: Secker & Warburg, →OCLC; republished [Australia]: Project Gutenberg of Australia, August 2001, part 1, page 1:
   • So from that tyme forwarde I began to ſmell the word of god, and forſoke the ſchole doctors and ſuch foolries. 1552, Hughe Latymer [i.e., Hugh Latimer], Augustine Bernher, compiler, “[The First Sermon]”, in Certayn Godly Sermons, Made uppon the Lords Prayer, […], London: […] John Day, […], published 1562, →OCLC, folio 5, verso:
   • Though you think, maybe, young men can do their fill of foolery and there is none to blame them. 1910, John Millington Synge, “Deirdre of the Sorrows”, in Plays by John M. Synge, London: George Allen & Unwin, act I, page 319:

Forms

Deriveds

April foolery · tomfoolery

Synonyms

foolishness

Translations (7)

pl głupota (foolish behaviour or speech.) · grc φλυαρία (foolish behaviour or speech.) · pl błazeństwo (foolish behaviour or speech.) · bg глупост (foolish behaviour or speech.) · pl błazenada (foolish behaviour or speech.) · bg щуротия (foolish behaviour or speech.) · fr folie (foolish behaviour or speech.)