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The Collaborative International Dictionary
Befool

Befool \Be*fool"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Befooled; p. pr. & vb. n. Befooling.] [OE. befolen; pref. be- + fol fool.]

  1. To fool; to delude or lead into error; to infatuate; to deceive.

    This story . . . contrived to befool credulous men.
    --Fuller.

  2. To cause to behave like a fool; to make foolish. ``Some befooling drug.''
    --G. Eliot.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
befool

late 14c., from be- + fool (n.). Related: Befooled; befooling.

Wiktionary
befool

vb. (context transitive archaic English) To make a fool out of (someone); to fool, trick, or deceive (someone).

WordNet
befool
  1. v. make a fool or dupe of [syn: fool, gull]

  2. fool or hoax; "The immigrant was duped because he trusted everyone"; "You can't fool me!" [syn: gull, dupe, slang, cod, fool, put on, take in, put one over, put one across]

Usage examples of "befool".

Event lasteth among men the space of one cycle of years, and after that a fresh Illusion springeth to befool mankind, and the Seven must expend the concluding half-cycle in preparing the edge of the Sword for a new mastery.

And those owners already wore the trappings they had taken from our backs, the better to befool our friends.

Those who thought to use Orna and Uryan for their purposes were mistaken, for the Lady Orna, of trading stock and shrewd, was no easily befooled female of the inner courts.

But she was the worst befooled mortal in the world when she turned elsewhere for support.

As the case was tried by an arbitrator and not a jury, my task was easy, arbitrators not being so likely to be befooled as the other form of tribunal.

A nursery screamer where dialectics ruled: Mannerless, graceless, laughterless, unlike Herself in all, yet with such power to strike, That she the various features she could scan Dared not to sum, though seeing: and befooled By power which beamed omnipotent, she bowed, Subservient as roused echo round his guns.

Obviously the Quabarl family had been woefully befooled, but a certain amount of relief came with the knowledge.

Fool, I, Rob, do rob and have robbed greater robbers that I might by robbery live to rob like robbers again, as thou, by thy foolish folly, fooleries make, befooling fools lesser than thou, that thou, Fool, by such fool-like fooleries may live to fool like fools again!

Fool, I, Rob, do rob and have robbed greater robbers that I might by robbery live to rob like robbers again, as thou, by thy foolish folly, fooleries make, befooling fools lesser than thou, that thou, Fool, by such fool-like fooleries may live to fool like fools again!

She set her teeth and drew her breath sharply through them when she thought how willingly she had let him befool her, and delude her about that memorandum of payments to Mrs.

Obviously the Quabarl family had been woefully befooled, but a certain amount of relief came with the knowledge.

Through these halls that people stepped Who through darkling centuries Held the keys Of all wisdom, truth, and art, In a Paradise apart, Lapped in ease, Sagely pondering deathless themes, While, befooled with monkish dreams, Europe slept.

But her look at times, and now and then her voice, gave sign that she counted on befooling him as well, to reconcile him to his bondage.

That the man I knew as wise should once have been so confused, so bamboozled by Cupid, so befooled by a girl, so dominated by his instructors, so wanting in self-determination, was unbearable.

Those who thought to use Oma and Uryan for their purposes were mistaken, for the Lady Oma, of trading stock and shrewd, was no easily befooled female of the inner courts.