folly

Foolishness that results from a lack of foresight or lack of practicality.countableuncountable

• It would be folly to walk all that way, knowing the shops are probably shut by now.

Thoughtless action resulting in tragic consequence.countableuncountable

• The purchase of Alaska from Russia was termed Seward's folly.

A fanciful building built for purely ornamental reasons.countableuncountable

• A luncheonette in the shape of a coffee cup is particularly conspicuous, as is intended of an architectural duck or folly.

To follow.dialectal

• [T]hey druv the cow afore thim, the dog follied; but the cat, uv coorse, was lift behind: an' the other three childer wint along the road, pickin' haves and blackberries; for it was a fine day towst the latther ind uv harvist.
• "You got any money?" he said to me. ¶ "Hell no, maybe enough for a pint of whisky till I get to Denver. What about you?" ¶ "I know where I can get some." ¶ "Where?" "Anywhere. You can always folly a man down an alley, can't you?"

A clump of trees, particularly one on the crest of a hill (or sometimes on a stretch of open ground).

• During the 1920s and 1930s, Folly Farms (above) [referencing a photograph of a farmhouse surrounded by large trees] was owned by Mrs. Samuel Pennington Rotan of Pennsylvania, who was involved in the effort to improve medical care for the in