fole

fole (plural foles)

1. Obsolete spelling of foal.
   • 1858, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Æstivation:

     In candent ire the solar splendor flames;
     The foles, languescent, pend from arid rames;
     His humid front the cive, anheling, wipes,
     And dreams of erring on ventiferous ripes.

From Proto-Albanian *spālai, from Proto-Indo-European *spel (“to cleave, break”). Related to fyell and fell. Compare Greek φωλιά (foliá, “nest”), from Ancient Greek φωλεά (phōleá).

fole f (plural fole, definite foleja, definite plural foletë)

1. nest (mainly of birds)

fole

1. second-person singular aorist of flas

From Swedish fåla. Cognate with English foal.

fole (imperative fol, infinitive at fole, present tense foler, past tense folede, perfect tense folet)

1. to foal (give birth to a foal)

• “fole” in Den Danske Ordbog

Borrowed from Old French fol, from Latin follis.

• foul, fol, fool, fule, ffuyll, foole, ffoole

• IPA^(key): /foːl/

fole (plural foles)

2. A fool, idiot, or moron; somebody who is stupid or unthinking.
3. An entertainer or joker; somebody who is employed to provide amusement.
4. (rare) Someone who is incapacitated or shocked; someone whose idiocy is temporary.
5. (rare) A victim of a scam or trick; someone who is fooled.

• English: fool
• Geordie English: fuil, feul
• Scots: fule, fuil
• → Welsh: ffôl

fole

2. Foolish, moronic, idiotic, ridiculous.
3. Evil, iniquitous, malign, devilish.
4. Sexually deviant, immoral or sinful.

• Scots: fule, fuil

• “fọ̄l, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 17 July 2018.
• “fọ̄l, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 17 July 2018.

From Old English fola, from Proto-West Germanic *folō, from Proto-Germanic *fulô.

• fool, foole, ffoole, fowle, foale

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɔːl(ə)/

fole (plural foles)

2. A foal (a young horse).
3. A horse regardless of its age.
4. The young of any other mammal, including the human being.

• English: foal
• Scots: fole, foill
• Yola: voal

• “fōle, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 17 July 2018.

fole

2. alternative form of folen (“to foal”)
3. inflection of folen (“to foal”):
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. first/second/third-person singular present subjunctive

From Old Norse foli.

fole m (definite singular folen, indefinite plural foler, definite plural folene)

1. a foal (colt or filly)

   Synonym: føll

From Old Norse fola.

fole

1. to foal (give birth to a foal)

• “fole” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

From Old Norse foli.

fole m (definite singular folen, indefinite plural folar, definite plural folane)

1. a foal (colt or filly)

   Synonym: føl

From Old Norse fola.

• fola

fole

1. to foal (give birth to a foal)

• “fole” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

• Hyphenation: fo‧le

From Latin follis, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰolǵʰnis, derivative of *bʰelǵʰ- (“to swell”).

fole m (plural foles)

1. bellows (flexible container used to blow air)

Borrowed from Guinea-Bissau Creole foli, from Mandinka.

fole m (plural foles)

1. (dialect, Guinea-Bissau) This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

fole m (plural foles)

1. (Mozambique) tobacco, snuff

• “fole”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2025
• “fole”, in Dicionário inFormal (in Portuguese), 2006–2025
• “fole” in Dicionário Aberto based on Novo Diccionário da Língua Portuguesa de Cândido de Figueiredo, 1913
• “fole”, in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2025
• “fole”, in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Editora Melhoramentos, 2015–2025
• “fole”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025