Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Something intended to deceive; a hoax or fraud.
- noun A person who claims to be other than what he or she is; an impostor.
- noun Nonsense; rubbish.
- noun Pretense; deception.
- interjection Used to express disbelief or disgust.
- intransitive verb To deceive or trick.
- intransitive verb To practice deception or trickery.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To deceive by a false pretense; impose upon; cajole; hoax.
- To practise deceit or trickery.
- noun A trick; an imposition, especially an imposition perpetrated under fair and honorable pretenses; a hoax.
- noun A spirit of deception or imposition; falseness; hollowness; pretense; sham: as, there is a great deal of humbug about him.
- noun An impostor; a cheat; a deceitful fellow; a person given to cajolery, flattery, or specious stories.
- noun A form of nippers for grasping the cartilage of the nose in refractory cattle.
- noun A kind of candy. See the extract.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun An imposition under fair pretenses; something contrived in order to deceive and mislead; a trick by cajolery; a hoax.
- noun A spirit of deception; cajolery; trickishness.
- noun One who deceives or misleads; a deceitful or trickish fellow; an impostor.
- transitive verb To deceive; to impose; to cajole; to hoax.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
hoax ,prank orjest - noun A
fraud orsham - noun A
fraudster orcheat - noun UK A type of
chewy sweet (candy ) - interjection
nonsense ! - verb To play a
trick on. - verb To
cheat ,swindle .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun pretentious or silly talk or writing
- noun something intended to deceive; deliberate trickery intended to gain an advantage
- noun communication (written or spoken) intended to deceive
- verb trick or deceive
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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In her severe cross-examination, the counsel (a very plain, if not an ugly person) observed she had frequently used the term humbug, and desired to know what she meant by it, and to {65} have an explanation; to which she replied,
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Mrs Harold Smith had commenced with a mind fixed upon avoiding what she called humbug; but this sort of humbug had become so prominent
Framley Parsonage 2004
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Mrs. Harold Smith had commenced with a mind fixed upon avoiding what she called humbug; but this sort of humbug had become so prominent a part of her usual rhetoric, that she found it very hard to abandon it.
Framley Parsonage Anthony Trollope 1848
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"Witch! traitress! infernal ghost! heart of ice!" and in English "humbug!" and in French
Vittoria — Complete George Meredith 1868
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The derivation of humbug from the Irish uim boig ` false coin 'would provide a perfect partner, but it is, alas, groundless.
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a loss to know whether or not Tinah himself gave credit to this whimsical and fabulous account; for though they have credulity sufficient to believe anything, however improbable, they are at the same time so much addicted to that species of wit which we call humbug that it is frequently difficult to discover whether they are in jest or earnest.
A Voyage to the South Sea For The Purpose Of Conveying The Bread-Fruit Tree To The West Indies, Including An Account Of The Mutiny On Board The Ship William Bligh 1785
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We are forced to walk on what you call humbug; we put it under our feet, but we use it. "
Loss and Gain The Story of a Convert John Henry Newman 1845
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One big change: undermining a custom known across Aboriginal Australia as "humbug" -- harassment, often of the elderly and of women, to share money and goods with their extended families.
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In 1824, claims about a Washington widow's miracle cure were celebrated by some, called humbug by others—and sparked a debate among Catholics and Protestants.
A Mixed Blessing Fergus M. Bordewich 2011
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A certain cant word called humbug had lately come into vogue.
The Virginians 2006
garyth123 commented on the word humbug
The prevalence of humbug by Max Black.
December 25, 2008
bilby commented on the word humbug
"The Mayor of Alice Springs, Damien Ryan, says the new by-laws are what the community wants.
'Begging is an issue that is not very acceptable in the fact that people prey on other people, they prey on the elderly, they prey on visitors, they prey on families,' he said. 'I mean begging, or humbugging, is something that is not appreciated in the community. We don't have anyway to stamp that out, that's why this has been brought about.'
He rejected suggestions the by-laws were racist."
- Katrina Bolton, Plan to strip blankets from Alice homeless, abc.net.au, 27 July 2009.
July 28, 2009
madmouth commented on the word humbug
right. that's the only way. *sputtering rage*
July 28, 2009
sxoidmal commented on the word humbug
From the Editor's Drawer of 'Harper's New Monthly Magazine,' No. CCLXXXVI--March 1874--Vol. XLVIII.
Speaking of the word "humbug," DeQuincey says "it rests upon a very firm and comprehensive basis. It can not be rendered adequately either by German or by Greek, the two richest of human languages. Its origin, however, is wrapped in doubt, the stories concerning it being vague and uncertain. The following I regard as the most trustworthy: At one time there was war between Germany and Austria, and constantly the wildest and most incredible stories concerning the victory or defeat of the German arms would be spread, entirely without truth. They were all traced to Hamburg; so, whenever any thing marvelous was announced, men would say, 'Oh! that is a Hamburg,' and finally a 'humbug.' "
September 21, 2009
Louises commented on the word humbug
Humbug in northern Australia is often just a way of life. The relentlessly persistant making of demands until the demands are met. Usually the person doing the humbugging is in a relationship with the humbugee that entitles the humbugger to make demands and there will be someone else whom the humbugee can legitimately humbug and so the cycle goes on. Gets nasty when grog (alcohol) and domestic violence break down cultural commitments.
May 21, 2012