humbug
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈhʌmbʌɡ/
ipa: /ˈhəmˌbəɡ/
Forms: form: humbugs
form: humbugging
form: humbugged
form: humbugged
Etymology: Origin unknown; the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) states that “the facts as to its origin appear to have been lost, even before the word became common enough to excite attention”. It has been suggested that the word possibly derives from hummer (“(slang) An obvious lie”), or from hum (“(dialectal and slang) to cajole; delude; impose on”) + bug (“a goblin, a spectre”). In his Slang Dictionary (1864), English bibliophile and publisher John Camden Hotten (1832–1873) suggested a link to the name of the German city of Hamburg, “from which town so many false bulletins and reports came during the war in the last century”, or alternatively a derivation from ambage.
Hotten also said he had traced the earliest occurrence of the word to the title page of Ferdinando Killigrew’s book The Universal Jester (see quotations), which he dated to about 1735–1740. This dating has therefore been adopted by other dictionaries. However, the OED dates the word to about 1750, as the earliest edition of Killigrew’s work has been dated to 1754.
Senses: examples: text: Here's a Humbugger come, / Will prove the reſt nothing at all, / 'Tis a Jobber, a Factor, / A damn'd Corn Contractor, / Who makes all our Loaves be ſo ſmall; […] And may all ſuch elves, / Be thus Humbugg'd themſelves, / Who thus are Humbugging the poor: / And as ſure as the Bone makes the Cleaver to ſound, / Humbugging, Humbugging goes all the world round.
ref: 1796, “The Nine Days Wonder! or the Humbug of Butcher Row. Sung by Mr. Dighton.”, in Songs, &c. in The Spirit of the Grotto. Or an Hour at Weybridge. A Musical Spectacle, as Performed at Sadler's Wells, [London?]: [s.n.], →OCLC, page 12:
text: Of all trades and arts in repute or possession, / Humbugging is held the most ancient profession. / Twixt nations, and parties, and state politicians, / Prim shopkeepers, jobbers, smooth lawyers, physicians, / Of worth and of wisdom the trial and test / Is—mark ye, my friends!—who shall humbug the best.
ref: 1810, Henry Brooke, “Epilogue on Humbugging”, in Samuel Johnson and Alexander Chalmers, The Works of the English Poets, from Chaucer to Cowper; including the Series Edited, with Prefaces, Biographical and Critical, by Dr. Samuel Johnson: And the Most Approved Translations. The Additional Lives by Alexander Chalmers, F.S.A. In Twenty-one Volumes, volume XVII (Glover, Whitehead, Jago, Brooke, Scott, Mickle, Jenyns), London: Printed for J[ames] Johnson; [et al.], OCLC 460902446, page 428
text: Then again farmers are shamefully, lamentably, sometimes almost ruinously humbugged. All classes it is true are humbugged to a certain extent, but farmers in my view suffer themselves to be fooled and swindled in this respect to a greater degree than any other class in the community. They are humbugged in seeds, humbugged in manures, humbugged in agricultural implements, humbugged by agents, humbugged by patent peddlers, humbugged by store-keepers, humbugged by politicians, humbugged by corporations, till finally, some of them are in danger of becoming little less than humbugs themselves.
ref: 1873 May 1, John F. French, “Farming—Present and Prospective”, in James O. Adams, New Hampshire Agriculture. Third Annual Report of the Board of Agriculture to His Excellency the Governor, Nashua, N.H.: Orren C. Moore, state printer, OCLC 659327991, pages 204–205
text: A theatrical man or showman has to humbug people. If he doesn't humbug them, they are humbugged.
ref: 1902, Charles Austin Bates, The Art and Literature of Business, New York, N.Y.: Bates Pub. Co., →OCLC, page 165:
text: Humbugging is an unflattering term that relates to demanding or pressuring behaviour mainly in relation to money. […] Muriel Palmer said the respondent was humbugging her. Rosina Dickson said the respondent came up to her and asked her if she had any children and was "sort of" humbugging her.
ref: 2014, Bronwyn Naylor, Heron Loban, “ACCC v Keshow [2005] FCA 558; Unconscionability, Education and Indigenous Women; Judgment”, in Heather Douglas, Francesca Bartlett, Trish Luker, Rosemary Hunter, editors, Australian Feminist Judgments: Righting and Rewriting Law, Oxford; Portland, Or.: Hart Publishing, →ISBN, page 186:
glosses: To play a trick on someone, to cheat, to swindle, to deceive.
qualifier: African-American Vernacular
glosses: To fight; to act tough.
glosses: To waste time talking.
Derived terms: word: humbugger
word: humbuggery
word: humbugging
word: unhumbugged
word: humbuggable