a. Forms: 4 foles, foolis, 4–7 folisch, -is(s)he, -ys(s)h(e, 5 foolich, foulishe, -ysse), 5–6 fulich, -ische, 6– foolish. [f. FOOL sb. + -ISH.]
1. Fool-like, wanting in sense or judgment.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 14802 (Cott.).
| Þe folk es foles, üat es wel sene, | |
| üat rises üus wit him sa clene. |
1381. Wyclif, Ecclus. xv. 7. Men foolis shul not take it.
c. 1449. Pecock, Repr., II. iii. 151. Thou woldist seie y were vncurteis, or ellis vnwijs and folisch.
1561. T. Norton, Calvin’s Inst., III. 201. The foolishest sorte amonge the laweyers doe saie, that Citations came from the law of God.
1692. Locke, Educ., § 94. He should acquaint him with the true State of the World, and dispose him to think no Man better or worse, wiser or foolisher, than he really is.
1838. Dickens, Nich. Nick., iv. Women are so very foolish, Mr. Squeers.
1866. Geo. Eliot, F. Holt (1868), 19. I was foolish to expect anything else.
absol. c. 1430. Pilgr. Lyf Manhode, II. xc. (1869), 108. I hatte Peresce the goutous, the encrampised, the boistous, the maymed, the foolich, the founded, the froren.
1526. Tindale, Luke x. 21. Thou hast hyd these thynges from the wyse and prudent, and hast opened them to the folisshe.
1741. Richardson, Pamela, I. xxxi. 162–3. Well, well, Lambkin, (which the Foolish often calls me) if I was in his Place, he should not have his Property in you long questionable.
2. Befitting a fool; proceeding from, or indicative of folly.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Troylus, I. 793. Thyn ire, and folish wilfulnesse.
c. 1489. Caxton, Blanchardyn, xliii. 170. He sholde make hym to be hanged byfore Beatryx his doughter, sayeng that suche sholde be the rewarde of his folyshe loue, and that noon other raenson he sholde take for hym.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 7 b. Here perauenture the carnall and beestly man wyll moue a folysshe questyon.
1628. Earle, Microcosm., A Plausible Man (Arb.), 60. He can listen to a foolish discourse with an applausive attention, and conceale his Laughter at None-sense.
1651. Hobbes, Leviath., III. xxxii. 196. Selfe conceit, and foolish arrogance, and false opinion of a mans own goodlinesse, or other vertue, by which he thinks he hath merited the favour of extraordinary Revelation.
1735. Pope, Prol. Sat., 211.
| Where Wits and Templars ev’ry sentence, raise, | |
| And wonder with a foolish face of praise. |
1784. Cowper, Tiroc., 255.
| To follow foolish precedents, and wink | |
| With both our eyes, is easier than to think. |
1828. Scott, F. M. Perth, v. If you think that I will give into her foolish notions of a convent, take it with you that I will never listen to them.
1859. Tennyson, Enid, 433.
| Nor speak I now from foolish flattery; | |
| For this dear child hath often heard me praise | |
| Your feats of arms. |
3. Ridiculous, † amusing.
1514. Barclay, Cyt. & Uplondyshm. (Percy Soc.), 21.
| Nought is more folysshe than suche wretches be, | |
| Thus with proude porte to cloke theyr poverte. |
1691. Southerne, Sir A. Love, IV. Wks. (1721), 222. ’Twill be foolish enough to observe him, when he discovers me; pray stay and laugh with me.
1717. Prior, Alma, I. 115.
| A foolish figure He must make; | |
| Do nothing else but sleep and ache. |
4. Humble, insignificant, paltry, poor, mean, trifling. arch. or dial.
1592. Shaks., Rom. & Jul., I. v. 124. We haue a trifling foolish Banquet towards. Ibid. (1596), Merch. V., I. ii. 130. Hee of all the men that euer my foolish eyes look’d vpon, was the best deseruing a faire Lady.
1597. Gerard, Herball, II. xxxii. § 9. 235. Crooked stalkes; wherupon do grow foolish idle flowers of a bleake or pale yellowe colour.
1625. Jackson, Creed, V. iv. § 5.
| Base Licinus hath a pompous Tombe, | |
| of gaudie marble stone: | |
| Wise Cato but a foolish one, | |
| the mightie Pompey none. |
1833. Carlyle, Misc. (1857), III. 218. A copy of the prohibited Book lies in the King’s private library: and owes favour, and a withdrawal of the prohibition, to the foolishest accident.
1862. Mrs. Browning, Last Poems, Parting Lovers, ii. 5.
| Thou hast not seen a hand push through | |
| A foolish flower or two. |
1890. Boldrewood, Colonial Reformer (1891), 420. A hundred miles is a hundred miles, and no foolish ride, even in this country where horses are as plenty as wallabies.
5. Comb., as foolish-bold, -compounded, -looking, -wise, -witty. Also, † foolish fire, Ignis fatuus; foolish guillemot, an aquatic bird, Lomvia troile.
1613. T. Milles, Treas. Anc. & Mod. Times, VIII. xii. 769/2. Phlegyas became (in the end) so ouer-weening and *foolish-bold that [etc.].
1597. Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., I. ii. 8. The braine of this *foolish compounded Clay-man is not able to inuent any thing that intends to laughter.
1605. Verstegan, Rest. Dec. Intell. (1628), 217. Dwas-licht. That which wee otherwise call the *Foolish-Fire.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., *Foolish Guillemot, the web-footed diving-bird Uria troile, common on our coasts.
1851. Mayne Reid, Scalp Hunt., vii. 42. Some of the new-comers were militaires, dressed in gaudy and *foolish-looking uniforms, that were soon seen spinning around the room in the mazes of the waltz.
1590. Greene, Orl. Fur. (1594), D i b.
| Shep: The heauen of loue is but a pleasant hell, | |
| Where none but *foolish wise imprisned dwell. |
1592. Shaks., Ven. & Ad., 835.
| She marking them, begins a wailing note, | |
| And sings extemporally a wofull dittie, | |
| How loue makes yong-men thrall, & old men dote, | |
| How loue is wise in follie, *foolish wittie. |
