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HUMBUG
fraud, fraudulence, dupery, hoax, humbug, put-on
(noun) something intended to deceive; deliberate trickery intended to gain an advantage
humbug, snake oil
(noun) communication (written or spoken) intended to deceive
baloney, boloney, bilgewater, bosh, drool, humbug, taradiddle, tarradiddle, tommyrot, tosh, twaddle
(noun) pretentious or silly talk or writing
humbug
(verb) trick or deceive
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Noun
humbug (countable and uncountable, plural humbugs)
(countable, slang) A hoax, jest, or prank.
(countable, uncountable, slang) A fraud or sham (countable); hypocrisy (uncountable).
(countable, slang) A fraudster, cheat, or hypocrite.
(uncountable, slang) Nonsense.
(countable, Britain) A type of hard sweet (candy), usually peppermint flavoured with a striped pattern.
(US, countable, slang) Anything complicated, offensive, troublesome, unpleasant or worrying; a misunderstanding, especially if trivial.
(US, countable, African American Vernacular, slang) A fight.
(countable, US, African American Vernacular, slang, dated) A gang.
(countable, US, crime, slang) A false arrest on trumped-up charges.
(countable, slang) (Perhaps by extension) The piglet of the wild boar.
Interjection
humbug
(slang) Balderdash!, nonsense!, rubbish!
Verb
humbug (third-person singular simple present humbugs, present participle humbugging, simple past and past participle humbugged)
(slang) To play a trick on someone, to cheat, to swindle, to deceive.
(US, African American Vernacular, slang) To fight; to act tough.
(slang, obsolete) To waste time talking.
Usage notes
The spellings humbuging and humbuged exist, but are not nearly so common as humbugging and humbugged.
Source: Wiktionary
Hum"bug`, n. Etym: [Prob. fr. hum to impose on, deceive + bug a frightful object.]
1. An imposition under fair pretenses; something contrived in order to deceive and mislead; a trick by cajolery; a hoax.
2. A spirit of deception; cajolery; trickishness.
3. One who deceives or misleads; a deceitful or trickish fellow; an impostor. Sir J. Stephen.
Hum"bug`, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Humbugged; p. pr. & vb. n. Humbugging.]
Definition: To deceive; to impose; to cajole; to hoax.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
Recent Word Finds
Word of the Day
29 March 2025
THOUGHTLESS
(adjective) without care or thought for others; “the thoughtless saying of a great princess on being informed that the people had no bread; ‘Let them eat cake’”
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