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These days, we are most likely to encounter foolscap as a reference to a sheet of paper or, more specifically, to a sheet of paper that is similar in size to a sheet of legal paper. In the early 17th century, when the use of foolscap was first attested to in English, we would have encountered it as a reference to an actual fool's cap-the cap, often with bells on, worn as part of a jester's motley. How did we get from this colorful cap to a sheet of paper? The connection is attributable to the former use of a watermark depicting a fool's cap that was used on long sheets of writing or printing paper. There are various explanations for the introduction of this watermark-including the claim that a 1648 British parliamentary group substituted it for the royal arms during exceptionally turbulent times-but such explanations remain unsupported by historical facts.

Examples of foolscap in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Think of Dickens and piles of foolscap and quill pens and Bob Cratchit. — John Kass, chicagotribune.com, "Column: How to punish Todd Ricketts for alleged tax scam? Elect him as congressman or better yet, governor," 4 July 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'foolscap.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.