Humbug Reference library
Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase & Fable (19 ed.)
... Deceptive or false talk or behaviour; a fraud or sham; an impostor. The word originally meant a trick or hoax. A humbug is also a striped boiled sweet flavoured with peppermint, perhaps so called because originally a confectionary ruse. The source of the word is uncertain. It may be connected in some way with ‘hum’ and ‘bug’ (the insect). ‘Bah’, said Scrooge. ‘Humbug...
Humbug Reference library
The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature (2 ed.)
... , a satirical illustrated weekly, was published in Melbourne 1869–70 ; it was edited by Marcus Clarke , whose co-proprietor was Garnet Walch . Other contributors included Charles Bright and James Edward Neild...
humbug Quick reference
The Diner’s Dictionary (2 ed.)
... The use of the word humbug for a stripy peppermint-flavoured boiled sweet seems to date from the nineteenth century: the Oxford English Dictionary notes it as being ‘remembered in common use in Gloucestershire’ in the 1820s, while Elizabeth Gaskell in Sylvia's Lovers ( 1863 ) explained: ‘He had provided himself with a paper of humbugs for the child—“humbug” being the north-country term for certain lumps of toffy, well-flavoured with peppermint.’ The word humbug itself first appeared as a popular slang term of the 1750s, and like most colloquial...
humbug Reference library
The Oxford Companion to Food (3 ed.)
... a small sweet made of a pulled sugar mixture, typically with a mint flavour. It has a traditional shape like a twisted cushion, made by chopping the rope of soft mixture into short sections and turning it through 90 degrees between cuts....
humbug Quick reference
A Dictionary of Food and Nutrition (4 ed.)
... Hard boiled sweet , normally peppermint-flavoured,...
humbug (verb) Reference library
Fowler’s Dictionary of Modern English Usage (4 ed.)
...humbug (verb) . The inflected forms are humbugged, humbugging. Also humbuggery (noun). See -g-, -gg-...
humbug! excl. Reference library
Green's Dictionary of Slang
...! excl. [ humbug n. (2)] nonsense! rubbish! 1837 R. Barham ‘Grey Dolphin’ Bentley's Misc. Apr. 351: The Baron […] solemnly ejaculated the word ‘Humbug!’ 1843 Dickens Christmas Carol ( 1868 ) 5: ‘Bah,’ said Scrooge . ‘Humbug!’ 1855 J. Brougham Basket of Chips 373: They purtend that this here is a hage of henlightenment and hintellect […] Humbug! 1866 J. Greenwood Little Ragamuffin 258: ‘Humbug,’ ses he. 1874 F.C. Burnand My Time 103: ‘Oh, humbug!’ cried Dick . 1897 Boy's Own Paper 13 Nov. 104: ‘Bosh! Humbug!’ cried...
humbug Quick reference
The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology
... †hoax, imposture, fraud XVIII; pretence, sham; impostor XIX. of unkn....
humbug Reference library
A Dictionary of Australian Colloquialisms (5 ed.)
... v . 1845 Thomas McCombie Arabin 232: Vexation seems to be my lot. I never was so humbugged in all my days. 1983 Paddy Roe gularabulu 95: ‘humbug’ means ‘cause a nuisance’. 1997 Louis Pwerie Australian 24 Nov. 4: ‘We just want him to stop humbugging Kathleen and for this ‘to just cool...
humbug Quick reference
New Oxford Rhyming Dictionary (2 ed.)
... • bug , chug, Doug, drug, dug, fug, glug, hug, jug, lug, mug, plug, pug, rug, shrug, slug, smug, snug, thug, trug, tug • bedbug • ladybug • doodlebug • humbug • firebug • thunderbug • jitterbug , litterbug • shutterbug • Rawlplug • earplug • fireplug •...
humbug v. Reference library
Green's Dictionary of Slang
... v. [ humbug n. ] 1 to cheat, to delude, to deceive; thus humbugging n. 1751 Smollett Peregrine Pickle ( 1964 ) 581: He who seemed to be the most afflicted of the two, taking his departure, with an exclamation of ‘Humbugged, egad!’ 1763 Gilly Williams in Jesse George Selwyn ( 1843 ) I 244: I believe that Lady Charlotte only humbugs you to make you smuggle some lace. 1772 G. Stevens ‘The Humbug’ Songs Comic and Satyrical 133: A load of conceits, a long life we are lugging, / Which some are Humbugg'd by, and some are Humbugging....
humbug Reference library
A Dictionary of Australian Colloquialisms (5 ed.)
... Used in ouback Australia not only in the customary sense of hoax or pretence, but also extended to mean nuisance or harassment, persisting esp. in Ab....
humbug Reference library
A Dictionary of Australian Colloquialisms (5 ed.)
... n . 1937 Xavier Herbert Capricornia 275: ‘Do you like the job?’ ‘No-more!’ she cried, wrinkling a pretty nose. ‘All dem sister proper humbug.’ ‘How’s that?’ ‘All time roustin’. All time tink we go out wid boys.’ 1943 W. E. Harney Taboo 72: She knew of an easier way to get tucker than waiting for these things to grow. ‘Too much humbug’ was her comment. 1959 C. V. Lawlor All This Humbug 21: ‘How came it [Humbug Creek] by that name?’ ‘Well, they tell me that a man named John Regan discovered it, and because it was such a nuisance when it was in...
humbug n. Reference library
Green's Dictionary of Slang
...me with his humbugs. 1765 H. Howard Choice Spirits Museum 3: Soon you'll smell the Humbug out. 1771 Smollett Humphrey Clinker ( 1925 ) I 169: This is no more than a humbug in the way of wit. 1780 Mme D'Arblay Diary ( 1891 ) I 293: He thinks it ‘a humbug upon the nation,’ as George Bodens called the parliament. 1788 G.A. Stevens Adventures of a Speculist I 19: Do sing a song about Humbug. D--n me, if I ain't fond of it. 1798 Sporting Mag. Dec. XIII 173/2: To bubble him, like a lying knave, / With three such damn'd humbugs. 1809 ...
