A fool is so called from the supposition that woodcocks are without brains. Polonius tells his daughter that protestations of love are “springes to catch woodcocks.” (Shakespeare: Hamlet, i. 3.)
· ·
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.
· 
· 
· ·