tomfool

Their own father, an amiable giant nearly seven foot tall, lacked the drive and ambition of his sons, and he refused to support this tomfool idea.

And this is where it’s ended: with a bunch of tomfool police playing soldier, tear-gassing random civilians, arresting journalists and turning Ferguson into a watchword for policing at its worst.

His manner and policies did not endear him to his political masters, notably Prime Minister Harold Wilson, who said he pursued “tomfool issues” and represented “a kind of aging perennial youth: he immatures with age.”

I know that well enough for I knew one of the tomfools.

Angry incredulity choked me, and I sat scowling at Silver Heels and striving to reconcile her serious mien with such a tomfool speech.