fool (fōōl)

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[Middle English fol, from Old French, from Late Latin follis, windbag, fool, from Latin follis, bellows.]

noun 

1. One who is deficient in judgment, sense, or understanding.
2. One who acts unwisely on a given occasion: I was a fool to have quit my job.
3. One who has been tricked or made to appear ridiculous; a dupe: They made a fool of me by pretending I had won.
4. Informal A person with a talent or enthusiasm for a certain activity: a dancing fool; a fool for skiing.
5. A member of a royal or noble household who provided entertainment, as with jokes or antics; a jester.
6. One who subverts convention or orthodoxy or varies from social conformity in order to reveal spiritual or moral truth: a holy fool.
7. A dessert made of stewed or puréed fruit mixed with cream or custard and served cold.
8. Archaic A mentally deficient person; an idiot.

verb: fooled, fool·ing, fools. 

transitive verb 

1. To deceive or trick; dupe: “trying to learn how to fool a trout with a little bit of floating fur and feather” (Charles Kuralt)
2. To confound or prove wrong; surprise, especially pleasantly: We were sure they would fail, but they fooled us.

intransitive verb 

1. Informal
   1. To speak or act facetiously or in jest; joke: I was just fooling when I said I had to leave.
   2. To behave comically; clown.
   3. To feign; pretend: He said he had a toothache but he was only fooling.
2. To engage in idle or frivolous activity.
3. To toy, tinker, or mess: shouldn't fool with matches.

adjective 

Foolish; stupid: off on some fool errand or other.

phrasal verbs

fool around

To engage in idle or casual activity; putter: was fooling around with the old car in hopes of fixing it.

To engage in frivolous activity; make fun.

To engage in casual, often promiscuous sexual acts.

fool away

To waste (time or money) foolishly; squander: fooled away the week's pay on Friday night.

idioms

play the fool

To act in an irresponsible or foolish manner. To behave in a playful or comical manner.