Fond

A foolish, fond parent. Here fond does not mean affectionate, but silly. Chaucer uses the word fonne for a simpleton, and the Scotch fou is to play the fool. Shakespeare has “fond desire,” “fond love,” “fond shekels of gold,” “fond wretch,” “fond mad-woman,” etc. “Fondling” means an idiot, or one fond.

“See how simple and how fond I am.”

Shakespeare: Midsummer Night’s Dream, iii. 2.

“Fonder than ignorance.”

Shakespeare: Troilus and Cressida, i. 1.

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.