footle
[foo t-l]Informal.
- to act or talk in a foolish or silly way.
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- nonsense; foolishness; silliness.
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Origin of footle
1890–95; origin uncertain; cf. footy
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for footle
Historical Examples
I never did it myself—I think it's footle—but lots and lots do.
footle
- (often foll by around or about) to loiter aimlessly; potter
- to talk nonsense
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- rare foolishness
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Word Origin
C19: probably from French foutre to copulate with, from Latin futuere
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for footle
v.
"to trifle," 1892, from dialectal footer "to trifle," footy "mean, paltry" (1752), perhaps from French se foutre "to care nothing," from Old French foutre "to copulate with," from Latin futuere, originally "to strike, thrust" (cf. confute). But OED derives the English dialect words from foughty (c.1600), from Dutch vochtig or Danish fugtig "damp, musty;" related to fog (n.).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper