ˈtom-ˈfool, n.
[f. Tom n.1 + fool n.1]
† a. As quasi-proper name, Tom Fool: a man mentally deficient; a half-witted person. Obs.
| 1356–7 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 719 Pro funeracione Thome Fole [from 1337 frequently mentioned as ‘Thomas fatuus’]. 1565 J. Calfhill Answ. Treat. Crosse 103 b, I might byd them tell them, as Tom foole did his geese. 1611 J. Field Panegyr. Verses in Coryat Crudities, Tom-Foole may goe to schoole, but nere be taught. ? 1640 New Serm. of newest fashion (1877) 32 A foole reall..such ffooles wee commonlie expresse by the names of Tom ffoole, Dick ffoole, and Jack ffoole. 1865 Cornh. Mag. Oct. 391 Now though he didn't know Hannah, Hannah knew him. ‘More folks know Tom Fool, than Tom Fool knows’, asking Mr. Preston's pardon. |
b. One who enacts the part of a fool in the drama, etc.; a buffoon; spec. a buffoon who accompanies morris-dancers; also, a butt, laughing-stock.
| 1650 H. More Observ. in Enthus. Tri., etc. (1656) 91 Come out Tom-Fool from behinde the hangings,..and put off your vizard, and be apert and intelligible. 1677 W. Hughes Man of Sin ii. ix. 139 But poor Thomas is made a Tom-fool of; for they make a bridge of his Nose, for ought I find, and leave him nothing. 1796 M. Robinson Angelina II. 131 ‘So then I am to be the only properly drest person at the wedding? In short, the Tom fool of the company’, said he. 1846 Thackeray Snob Papers Wks. 1886 XXIV. 319 A theatre manager..walking backwards in a Tom-Fool's coat. 1894 S.E. Worc. Gloss. s.v. Morris-dance, In the neighbourhood of Pershore the morris-dancers go out for about ten days at Christmas-tide, accompanied by their musician and a ‘tom-fool’. |
c. A foolish or stupid person; one who behaves foolishly. (More emphatic than fool.)
| 1721 Amherst Terræ Fil. No. 44. (1754) 233 From this tom-fool proceed we to the second, entitled Joseph. 1835 Marryat Pacha x, I came with the rest of the tom-fools. 1860 Mayhew Upp. Rhine iv. §1. 173 A titled tom-fool, that some crowned head has been pleased to nickname noble. 1881 Besant & Rice Chapl. of Fleet I. 78 If they were not clergymen, I should say they were all tom-fools. |
d. attrib. (in senses b and c).
| 1762 Sterne Tr. Shandy V. xxx. 107 'Twas a Tom-fool-battle. 1819 Scott Fam. Let. 25 Nov., I had some regret in putting him into that Tom Fool dress, which is so unlike that of a British soldier. 1879 Sala Paris herself again (1880) I. x. 151 You may..wear whatever tomfool costume you like to assume. 1903 Sat. Rev. 7 Feb. 172/2 The absolute tom-fool nonsense in which Fielding could indulge. |
Hence ˈtom-fool v., intr. to play the fool; whence ˈtom-ˈfooling vbl. n.
| 1825 T. Hook Sayings Ser. ii. Man of Many Fr. I. 181 She began lecturing and tom-fooling with as great a quack as herself. 1836 ― G. Gurney i, All the lovers and their ladies were to be flirting and tom-fooling about in the costume of the then present day. 1881 Daily Tel. 27 Dec., In this scene there is very good tomfooling on the part of King Hoity-Toity..and the Nigger Chamberlain. |