malarkey
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /məˈlɑːki/
ipa: /məˈlɑɹki/
rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)ki
Forms: form: malarkeys
form: malachy
form: malarky
form: mallarky
form: mullarkey
Etymology: Of unknown origin; the word was popularized by the Irish-American cartoonist Thomas Aloysius (“Tad”) Dorgan (1877–1929), who started using it in cartoons on March 9, 1922.
Maybe from Irish mallachtóireacht or Greek μαλακίες (malakíes)
Senses: examples: text: I decided it was a bunch of malarkey and stopped reading about halfway through.
text: Malachy—You said it—I wouldn't trust a lawyer no further than I could throw a case of Scotch.
ref: 1934 April 2, Thomas Aloysius Dorgan, The Capital Times, Madison, Wis.: Capital Times Co., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 6:
text: It's a lot of mallarky for mothers, sisters, and sweethearts to ask "Laddie, when you're far away will you think of me?" The answer is NO! The girls who teach the soldier boys are kept busy as a bee. It's the soldier boys who pay.
ref: 1939, The Commentator, volume 6, New York, N.Y.: Payson Publishing Co., →OCLC, page 45, column 2:
text: She shrugged. "I've told you all I know." / "Mallarky. You haven't even begun to spill and you know it."
ref: 1945, Lawrence Lariar, Erle Stanley Gardner, Marjorie Alan, The Girl with the Frightened Eyes [by Lawrence Lariar]; The Case of the Half-wakened Wife [by Erle Stanley Gardner]; Dark Prophecy [by Marjorie Alan], New York, N.Y.: Detective Book Club, →OCLC, page 127:
text: If I told you that we had launched the glove washing program without effort it would be purely malarkey. Right off the bat we had some squawks about dermatitis.
ref: 1957 July, Merrick Pratt, “Administering the Protective Equipment Program”, in Gerard J. Riley, editor, Modern Sanitation: The Magazine of Sanitation Management and Plant Housekeeping, volume 9, number 1, Easton, Pa.: Powell Magazines, →OCLC, page 21:
text: 'Smuggling,' she said. 'has a fine romantic ring about it—once aboard the lugger, you heave ho and all that kind of malarky. [...]'
ref: 1968, Margery Allingham, “The String Man”, in Cargo of Eagles, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC; republished London: Vintage, 2016, →ISBN, page 91:
text: Save that malarkey for those old fossils at Midas Creek! You're aiming at the pot. So am I. I'm in control, but you and your infernal luck could upset the applecart.
ref: 1957 October 19, Robert Ormond Case, “Trouble at Midas Creek”, in Ben Hibbs, editor, The Saturday Evening Post, volume 230, number 16, Philadelphia, Pa.; London: Curtis Publishing Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 64, column 1:
text: But, Tony, this has got to stay within the Department. None of our FBIers or state troopers or all them other malarkeys get to hear a word of it.
ref: 1983, Donald E[dwin] Westlake, chapter 23, in Why Me?, New York, N.Y.: Viking, →ISBN; republished [New York, N.Y.]: MysteriousPress.com/Open Road, 2011, →ISBN:
text: But I'm not havin' this film mallarky. I'm takin' no memories wi' me.
ref: 1985, Stephen Lowe, “Moving Pictures”, in Moving Pictures: Four Plays (Methuen New Theatrescript), London; New York, N.Y.: Methuen, →ISBN, page 7:
text: A company that makes a fetish of never exceeding the budget invites game-playing and other malarky. It is easy to forget the obvious: that it involves no skill to come in on time and under budget if the schedule and budget are generous enough.
ref: 1993, Richard Barry, “Budgeting”, in The Management of International Oil Operations, Tulsa, Ok.: PennWell Books, →ISBN, page 331:
text: "No. She was going through a Kramer vs. Kramer kind of thing at the time. You know, a sort of I-want-to-find-out-who-I-am malarkey." / "And did she find out who she was?" / "Not really. I don't know if anyone really does, do they?"
ref: 1998, Nick Hornby, chapter 13, in About a Boy, London: Gollancz, →ISBN; republished as chapter 13, in About a Boy, New York, N.Y.: Riverhead Books, 1998, →ISBN:
text: "An underwater tunnel!" he exclaimed. "A connection between two seas! Who ever heard of such malarkey!"
ref: 2001 January, Jules Verne, chapter 5, in Frederick Paul Walter, transl., 20,000 Leagues under the Seas: An Underwater Tour of the World (Project Gutenberg eBook; #2488), Project Gutenberg, →OCLC, part 2:
text: This book isn't about the application process itself – how best to complete your UCAS form, what the codes are for exam awarding bodies, what to say in interviews and all that mullarkey.
ref: 2004, Johnny Rich, “The Application Process”, in Ruth Bushi, editor, The Push Guide to Choosing a University, 2nd edition, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire: Nelson Thornes, →ISBN, page 68:
text: That's a bunch of malarkey piled on malarkey. I knew the minute I saw you there was something special about you, [...]
ref: 2015, Liz Talley, Sweet Talking Man (Harlequin Superromance), Don Mills, Ont.: Harlequin Enterprises, →ISBN, page 337:
synonyms: word: absurdity
word: all my eye
word: all my eye and Betty Martin
word: applesauce
word: bafflegab
word: balderdash
word: balls
word: baloney
word: banana oil
word: Bandini
word: baragouin
word: batcrap
word: batshit
word: bilgewater
word: blah
word: blather
word: blatherskite
word: bobbins
word: bollocks
word: bosh
word: BS
word: bull
word: bullcrap
word: bulldust
word: bull feathers
word: bullshit
word: bullspeak
word: bunk
word: bunkum
word: bushwah
word: clamjamfrey
word: claptrap
word: cobblers
word: codswallop
word: crap
word: crock
word: crock of shit
word: double Dutch
word: double talk
word: doublespeak
word: dribble
word: drivel
word: eyewash
word: fiddle-faddle
word: flapdoodle
word: flim-flam
word: flizz
word: flummery
word: folderol
word: foolishness
word: footle
word: framis
word: fuckery
word: fuckry
word: fudge
word: galimatias
word: garbage
word: garble
word: gibber
word: gibberish
word: gobbledygook
word: gossip
word: Greek
word: guff
word: gup
word: hoax
word: hocus-pocus
word: hogwash
word: hokum
word: hooey
word: horsefeathers
word: horse hockey
word: horse piss
word: horse puckey
word: horseshit
word: humbug
word: Irish bull
word: jabber
word: jargon
word: jibber-jabber
word: jimjam
word: jive
word: junk
word: lallation
word: macaroni
word: malarkey
word: manure
word: meaninglessness
word: moonshine
word: mumbo jumbo
word: nertz
word: nonsense
word: pie in the sky
word: piffle
word: pigswill
word: poppycock
word: prattle
word: put-on
word: rhubarb
word: rhubarb rhubarb
word: rigmarole
word: rot
word: rubbish
word: ruse
word: santorum
word: shit
word: shite
word: skimble-skamble
word: squit
word: stuff
word: stuff and nonsense
word: tommy-rot
word: tosh
word: tush
word: trash
word: tripe
word: twaddle
word: wass
word: whiff-whaff
word: word salad
glosses: Nonsense; rubbish.
wikipedia: NPR