foolscap

[ foolz-kap ]

noun

1. a type of inexpensive writing paper, especially legal-size, lined, yellow sheets, bound in tablet form.
2. Chiefly British. a size of drawing or printing paper, 13.5 × 17 inches (34 × 43 centimeters). : cap., fcp.
3. Also called fools·cap oc·ta·vo [foolz, -kap ok-, tey, -voh, -, tah, -]. a size of book, about 4.25 × 6.75 inches (11 × 17 centimeters), untrimmed.
4. Also called fools·cap quar·to [foolz, -kap , kwawr, -toh]. Chiefly British. a size of book, about 6.75 × 8.5 inches (17 × 22 centimeters) untrimmed.
5. fool's cap ( def 1 ).

foolscap

/ ˈfuːlzˌkæp /

noun

1. a size of writing or printing paper, 13 1 2 by 17 inches or 13 1 4 by 16 1 2 inches
2. a book size, 4 1 4 by 6 3 4 inches ( foolscap octavo ) or (chiefly Brit) 6 3 4 by 8 1 2 inches ( foolscap quarto )
3. a variant spelling of fool's cap

Word History and Origins

Origin of foolscap¹

First recorded in 1690–1700; so called from the watermark of a fool's cap formerly used on such paper

Word History and Origins

Origin of foolscap¹

C17: see fool ¹, cap ; so called from the watermark formerly used on this kind of paper

Example Sentences

Against this tech-inflected landscape, Thomas Harding’s more than serviceable new biography of George Weidenfeld, long a force of letters in England and briefly in the United States, floats as if on stained foolscap.

From New York Times

It consists of calculations etched largely in ink on yellowed leaves of foolscap and squared paper, with 26 pages in Einstein’s handwriting, 25 pages in Besso’s and three containing entries from both scientists.

From Washington Post

After he finished “Moby-Dick” and was starting “Pierre,” he wrote, from Arrowhead, to Nathaniel Hawthorne—“Believe me, I am not mad!”—that he wished he could “have a paper-mill established at one end of the house, and so have an endless riband of foolscap rolling in upon my desk; and upon that endless riband I should write a thousand—a million—billion thoughts.”

From The New Yorker

The map runs to sixteen laminated foolscap pages, or about ten square feet, when I tile the pages together.

From The New Yorker

A sheaf of foolscap from her father’s office was before her, the desk light threw down its comforting yellow patch, the fountain pen was in her hand.

From Literature