foolscap

noun fools·cap \ ˈfülz-ˌkap \

variants: or less commonly fool's cap

Editor's Note: Did You Know?

Definition of foolscap

1 : a cap or hood usually with bells worn by jesters

2 : a conical cap for slow or lazy students

3 usually foolscap

[from the watermark of a foolscap formerly applied to such paper]

: a size of paper formerly standard in Great Britain; broadly : a piece of writing paper

foolscap was our Word of the Day on 08/08/2014. Hear the podcast!

Did You Know?

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.