Folly to Fool-hasty
Folly
(Fol"ly) n.; pl. Follies [OE. folie, foli, F. folie, fr. fol, fou, foolish, mad. See Fool.]
1. The state of being foolish; want of good sense; levity, weakness, or derangement of mind.
2. A foolish act; an inconsiderate or thoughtless procedure; weak or light-minded conduct; foolery.
What folly 'tis to hazard life for ill.
Shak. 3. Scandalous crime; sin; specifically, as applied to a woman, wantonness.
[Achan] wrought folly in Israel.
Josh. vii. 15.
When lovely woman stoops to folly.
Goldsmith. 4. The result of a foolish action or enterprise.
It is called this man's or that man's "folly," and name of the foolish builder is thus kept alive for long after
years.
Trench. Folwe
(Fol"we) v. t. To follow. [Obs.] Chaucer.
Fomalhaut
(Fo"mal*haut`) n. [Ar., prop., mouth of the large fish: cf. F. Fomalhaut.] (Astron.) A star of
the first magnitude, in the constellation Piscis Australis, or Southern Fish.
Foment
(Fo*ment") v. t. [imp. & p. p. Fomented; p. pr. & vb. n. Fomenting.] [F. fomenter, fr. L.
fomentare, fr. fomentum (for fovimentum) a warm application or lotion, fr. fovere to warm or keep
warm; perh. akin to Gr. to roast, and E. bake.]
1. To apply a warm lotion to; to bathe with a cloth or sponge wet with warm water or medicated liquid.
2. To cherish with heat; to foster. [Obs.]
Which these soft fires . . . foment and warm.
Milton. 3. To nurse to life or activity; to cherish and promote by excitements; to encourage; to abet; to instigate; —
used often in a bad sense; as, to foment ill humors. Locke.
But quench the choler you foment in vain.
Dryden.
Exciting and fomenting a religious rebellion.
Southey. Fomentation
(Fo`men*ta"tion) n. [. fomentatio: cf. F. fomentation.]
1. (Med.) (a) The act of fomenting; the application of warm, soft, medicinal substances, as for the
purpose of easing pain, by relaxing the skin, or of discussing tumors. (b) The lotion applied to a diseased
part.
2. Excitation; instigation; encouragement.
Dishonest fomentation of your pride.
Young. Fomenter
(Fo*ment"er) n. One who foments; one who encourages or instigates; as, a fomenter of sedition.
Fomes
(||Fo"mes) n.; pl. Fomites [L. fomes, -itis, touch-wood, tinder.] (Med.) Any substance supposed
to be capable of absorbing, retaining, and transporting contagious or infectious germs; as, woolen clothes
are said to be active fomites.
