Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Foolish behavior.
- noun Something trivial or foolish; nonsense.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Foolish trifling; ridiculous behavior; nonsense.
- noun Silly trifles; absurd ornaments or knick-knacks.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun Folly; trifling.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun
Foolish behaviour - noun Cockney rhyming slang
jewellery .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun foolish or senseless behavior
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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She made fun of what she called his tomfoolery, which prevented him from turning his position to account.
Renée Mauperin Edmond de Goncourt 1859
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Five millennia of economic tomfoolery is bound to leave Egyptians confused about economic principles.
Letter From Egypt P. J. O'Rourke 2002
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Five millennia of economic tomfoolery is bound to leave Egyptians confused about economic principles.
Letter From Egypt P. J. O'Rourke 2002
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Whatever we get in November, it least it won't be Billary and this kind of tomfoolery!
Archive 2008-06-01 2008
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Whatever we get in November, it least it won't be Billary and this kind of tomfoolery!
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Americans will always fall for this kind of tomfoolery, Stevey.
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But neither can the kind of tomfoolery engaged in by this very foolish Pope.
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Many of the Whigs were opposed to these, regarding them as a thrust at Badger, the Register saying that they were "tomfoolery" and the work of "political mountebanks," but almost as many considered them as entirely proper, eminently timely, if indeed not rendered absolutely necessary by the national situation.
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"Be a change for us city chaps," he suggested; and then exploding at what he called his "tomfoolery," set the dining-net all a-quivering and shaking.
We of the Never-Never Jeannie Gunn 1915
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But when Barber saw the curtains, he called them "tomfoolery," and tore them down.
The Rich Little Poor Boy Eleanor Gates 1913
seanahan commented on the word tomfoolery
Akin to jackassery.
August 16, 2007
johnmperry commented on the word tomfoolery
Cockney rhyming slang (usually truncated to Tom) = jewellery (or jewelry if you're unfortunate enough to be American)(except then it doesn't actually rhyme).
June 18, 2008
reesetee commented on the word tomfoolery
Odd. I'm American and I don't feel unfortunate at all.
June 18, 2008
chained_bear commented on the word tomfoolery
I was thinking the same thing, reesetee. It reminds me of what Bill Maher said in "When You Ride Alone, You Ride with Bin Laden": If you were born in the United States in the second half of the twentieth century, congratulations! You've won the population powerball of human history!
(I think it appropriate that Bill Maher be quoted on the tomfoolery page. I think he'd appreciate the irony. :) )
June 18, 2008
reesetee commented on the word tomfoolery
Yes, I suspect he would. :-)
June 18, 2008
rolig commented on the word tomfoolery
I suppose what johnmperry is referring to is our woeful lack of extraneous letters, compared to such British words as archaeology, foetus, oedema, apophthegm, and colour.
June 18, 2008
reesetee commented on the word tomfoolery
Oh. That. ;-)
June 19, 2008
bilby commented on the word tomfoolery
What's a population powerball?
June 19, 2008
reesetee commented on the word tomfoolery
Powerball is a U.S. lottery game, bilby--and also an Australian one, I believe?
June 19, 2008
chained_bear commented on the word tomfoolery
So how is not having extraneous letters unfortunate? Think of the annual savings in ink! Paper! Typing time!
June 19, 2008
bilby commented on the word tomfoolery
Mentally I'm translating c_b's citation as 'you've won a million human beings'. I'm not sure I'd know what to do. Would they all want to stay at my place? The kitchen's kind of spacious but there's only one couch :-(
June 19, 2008
reesetee commented on the word tomfoolery
I'm sure many of them wouldn't mind standing. They do that on the subway a lot.
June 19, 2008