Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English - fool

~1 n 1 »STUPID PERSON« a stupid person or someone who has done something stupid  (What a fool she had been to think that he would stay.) 2 any fool can spoken used to say that it is very easy to do something or to see that something is true  (Any fool can see that the painting's a fake.) 3 be no fool/nobody's fool to be difficult to trick or deceive, because you have a lot of experience and knowledge about something  (Katherine was nobody's fool when it came to money.) 4 make a fool of yourself to do something stupid that you feel embarrassed about afterwards and that makes you seem silly  (Sorry I made such a fool of myself last night. I must have been drunk.) 5 »FOOD« gooseberry fool/strawberry fool etc BrE a sweet food made of soft cooked fruit mixed with cream 6 make a fool of sb to deliberately try to make someone seem stupid  (I suddenly realised that I was being made a fool of.) 7 more fool you/him etc BrE spoken used to say that you think someone was stupid to do something and it is their own fault if this causes trouble  ("Jim smashed up my car." " More fool you for letting him borrow it!") 8 be living in a fool's paradise to feel happy and satisfied, and believe there are no problems, when in fact this is not true 9 play/act the fool to behave in a silly way, especially in order to make people laugh  (Stop playing the fool! You'll fall.) 10 (send sb on) a fool's errand to make someone go somewhere or do something for no good reason 11 »ENTERTAINER« a man whose job was to entertain a king or other powerful person in former times, by doing tricks, singing funny songs etc  (- see also April fool) ~2 v 1 to trick someone into believing something  (You can't fool me with that old excuse. | fool sb into doing sth)  (Don't be fooled into believing their promises.) 2 you could have fooled me spoken used to show that you do not believe what someone has told you  ("Look, we're doing our best to fix it." "Well, you could have fooled me.") 3 sb is just fooling spoken used to say that someone is not serious and is only pretending that something is true  (Don't pay any attention to Henry. He's just fooling.) fool around also fool about BrE phr v 1 to waste time behaving in a silly way  (He spent the whole afternoon just fooling around.) 2 to behave in a careless and irresponsible way  (Some idiot's been fooling around with the electricity supply!) 3 to have a sexual relationship with someone else's wife, boyfriend etc  (Anthony's been fooling around with one of the secretaries.) ~3 adj only before noun AmE informal silly or stupid  (What did you say a fool thing like that for?)