motley fool
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English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
motley (“multi-colored cloth; a jester's clothes”) + fool (“a jester”)
Noun[edit]
motley fool (plural motley fools)
- Court jester; jester.
- c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene vii]:
- A fool, a fool! I met a fool i’ th’ forest, / A motley fool. A miserable world!