different between tomfoolery vs romp

English

Etymology

From Tom (a common man) +? foolery.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?t?m?fu?l.?.?i/

Noun

tomfoolery (countable and uncountable, plural tomfooleries)

1. Foolish behaviour or speech.
2. (Cockney rhyming slang) jewellery.

Synonyms

• (foolish behaviour or speech): buffoonery

Translations

English

Etymology

Probably a variant of ramp.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -?mp

Verb

romp (third-person singular simple present romps, present participle romping, simple past and past participle romped)

1. (intransitive) To play about roughly, energetically or boisterously.
   • When the kids're allowed to romp in the bedroom, they break something.
2. (transitive, US) (Often used with down) To press forcefully, to encourage vehemently, to oppress.
   • If I romp down on the gas, it'll do sixty in six seconds.
   • Coach Smith had to romp on 'em to get 'em out of a losing streak.
3. To win easily.
   • England romped to an easy win over Australia.
   • 2014, Paul Doyle, "Southampton hammer eight past hapless Sunderland in barmy encounter", The Guardian, 18 October 2014:

     Ronald Koeman collected that prize in the run-up to this game, and then watched his team romp to their biggest victory for nearly a century, inflicting a defeat that Sunderland will struggle to forget.

4. (slang) To engage in playful or boisterous sex.

Translations

Noun

romp (plural romps)

1. (now archaic) Someone who romps; especially, a girl or young woman who indulges in boisterous play; a tomboy. [from 17th c.]
   • 1792, Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Penguin 2004, p. 57:

     I will venture to affirm, that a girl, whose spirits have not been damped by inactivity, or innocence tainted by false shame, will always be a romp, and the doll will never excite attention unless confinement allows her no alternative.

2. A period of boisterous play, a frolic; now especially, a bout of sexual activity, especially when illicit. [from 18th c.]
   • Sex romp at Windsor castle (headline in The Sun)
3. An enjoyable, fast-paced but essentially inconsequential film, play, or other piece of entertainment. [from 19th c.]
4. (chiefly sports) A decisive victory; a game, match etc. which is won easily. [from 20th c.]

Derived terms

Related terms

• rumpus

Translations

Anagrams

• PROM, Prom, prom

Afrikaans

Noun

romp (plural rompe)

1. skirt

Catalan

Verb

romp

1. third-person singular present indicative form of rompre
2. second-person singular imperative form of rompre

Dutch

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -?mp

Noun

romp m (plural rompen, diminutive rompje n)

1. trunk, torso
2. (ship) hull