Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Sensational or clamorous advertising or publicity.
- n. Noisy shouting or uproar.
- v. To advertise or publicize by sensational methods.
Wiktionary
- n. Sensational or clamorous advertising or publicity.
- n. Noisy shouting or uproar.
- n. An inshore, surface-dwelling species of needlefish forming sizeable schools.
- n. An unseaworthy or slovenly ship.
- v. To sensationalise or make grand claims.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. to advertize or publicize noisily or blatantly.
- n. noisy or blatant advertizing or publicity.
WordNet 3.0
- n. blatant or sensational promotion
- v. advertize noisily or blatantly
Etymologies
- Origin unknown.
Examples
“The next town we come to there was a county fair, and the doctor run acrost an old pal of his'n who had a show on the grounds and wanted to hire him fur what he called a ballyhoo man.”
“That, I venture to say, when the "ballyhoo" is stripped off, is the object of the "New Deal.”
“Or are you just objecting to the ballyhoo, which is predictable from any opposition party in Parliament even the CPC, if the shoe were on the other foot.”
Liberals Manufacture Controversy, Rattle Election Sabres « Unambiguously Ambidextrous
“Again, there is the very characteristic American word ballyhoo, signifying the harangue of a ballyhoo-man, or spieler48 (that is, barker) before a cheap show, or, by metaphor, any noisy speech.”
Chapter 3. The Period of Growth. 4. Loan-Words and Non-English Influences
“Ross must be banking on his 'celebrity pulling power' leverage to get him through the 'ballyhoo'.”
On Thursday, the Legg report will be published along with...
“| George Monbiot It may not be racist, but it's a question I'm tired of hearing | Ariane Sherine He need not 'ballyhoo' a 'black agenda' but solving problems that affect African-Americans would strengthen the US as a whole plan international. woking, surrey.”
“Amid so much ballyhoo, it's always healthy to find dissenting voices.”
The Huffington Post: Pepe Escobar: Is Brazil the New United States?
“Putting aside the irony of his having to ballyhoo "microstyle" through the implementation of "Big Style," it must be said that Johnson does make myriad important declarations about the construction of thoughts so they're rhythmic, and metaphoric, are persuasive when appropriately detailed, are even poetic -- declarations at which Strunk and White would undoubtedly nod their heads approvingly and which certainly satisfy the revered journalist's ABC accuracy, brevity, clarity.”
“During that period when Lumet's film was getting all the ballyhoo, he joined in on the press day that all the journos there knew was an important occasion.”
“Why all this Census ballyhoo more than two months before the official April 1 Census date?”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘ballyhoo’.
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Very Silly Words
A list of very silly sounding words, as well as words that are fun to say
badot, gardyloo, dingbat, gaffer, kine, haberdashery, forsooth, whey-faced, hoddypeak, brouhaha, widdershins, decemnovenarianize and 115 more...
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Origin unknown
bamboozle, ballyhoo, banter, bludgeon, chad, cocktail, culvert, curmugeon, dildo, dude, dweeb, dyke and 51 more...
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Dumbisms
Words and phrases I don't like. They are dumb.
re-look, good to go, reinvent the wheel, do what, ducks in a row, re-up, twofer, irregardless, repurpose, ballyhoo, bells and whistles, webinar and 53 more...
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excite
thrill, exhilarate, spark, excite, galvanize, hype, neuromarketing, mesmerise, ballyhoo, showmanship, inspire, effusive and 2 more...
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Jenni's List
My Favorite Words
splendiferous, wonderous, calamity, foregone, magnanimous, benevolent, hullabaloo, pandemonium, hubbub, brouhaha, ballyhoo
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Your Grandfather's Bad Old World
chicanery, ballyhoo, thaumaturgy, inveigle, wheedle, buncombe, balderdash, twaddle, fustian, lexiphanic, obstreperous, autochthonous and 1 more...
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johnwunjo's list
ballyhoo
bilby "When the House Commission for Un-American Activities was officially called a witch-hunt, one group of radical women suddenly realised that that was what they wanted to be, so WITCH, Women's International Terrorist Conspiracy from Hell, was formed. Ballyhoo was their business and from the beginning they were good at it. Dressed in black and riding broomsticks they hexed the Chase Manhattan Bank, distorting the familiar slogan (You Have A Friend In The Chase Manhattan) in a fashion fatuous enough for J. Walter Thompson himself (You Have A Fiend In The Chase Manhattan). When they bewitched Wall Street the market obligingly suffered a frisson of five points and then pulled itself together again. Bra burning and invading the annual Bride Fair in Madison Square Garden were good fun and good copy too. Nowadays WITCH is a little leery of the Tactical Police Force and has gone underground and anonymous, a heavy fate for ballyhoo."
- 'The Slag-Heap Erupts', Germaine Greer, 1970. Mar 28, 2008
reesetee I don't know. Dec 13, 2007
bilby Hoo's on first. Dec 13, 2007